Unleashing the beast
by Terroroftherailway
Summary: At the same time, every single year, Burnett sends Lily and Lady to Sodor for a month. But this time she also learns the disturbing reason for it... and that some engines cannot be tamed. Later, Patch is stupid enough to release Diesel 10 from being locked up in his shed. Will they be able to catch him or lure him back before something terrible happens? Rated M for sexual contents.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I do not own any of the characters, they all belong to HIT.

In this story, the trains are a bit more animal-like in their behavior. I also imagine them as a little more flexible and softer than real life machines. Sort of bio-mechanic.

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Chapter 1

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Lily and Patch both took a deep breath as they arrived at Sodor with Lady. Burnett had sent them on a little vacation, and had asked Mr. Conductor to keep an eye on them. Actually, he sent them and Lady here every year at this time of year, but this was the first time he allowed them to go alone with Mr. Conductor. Lily had protested a bit, she thought they were old enough to go without a babysitter. She had been driving Lady alone many times throughout the last years. She leaned out of Lady's cab to look at the nature unfolding. There were always such fresh air here in Sodor. It was always a pleasure to visit, and this time they were going to stay here for a month, like every year. She had never gotten any explanation to why they had to bring Lady here at the same time every year, for such a long period.

"Look how gorgeous the nature is in springtime!" Patch said with glee.

"I agree! Let us go for a little ride around the island. We're on vacation after all." Mr. Conductor said.

Lily smiled and patted Lady's side. "I'm sure Lady don't mind!"

A happy whistle confirmed that the pink steam engine were more than happy to go on a sightseeing. Lily closed her eyes towards the wind. Lady were always so full of energy during spring, much like the horses at the field, who were jumping and bucking around after a long winter. Being a magic engine, she sometimes took short trips on her own too, something she usually did not do.

"Mr. Conductor? Why do we always have to bring Lady here every spring?" Patch asked.

Mr. Conductor coughed and cleared his throat. "I'll tell you later, ok?"

"Sure…."

They approached Vicarstown Dieselworks, hearing mechanics and other workers shouting, talking and sounds of work.

"Look, how nice the new dieselworks is!" Patch said as they stopped on the rails right outside the fence. There was much activity inside. Lady wheezed, whistled and tried eagerly to drive forward, but Mr. Conductor held her brakes.

"No, Lady, we're not going inside." He said and patted her side. The small engine trembled in excitement.

A lot of noise came from the main building. They heard a frustrated roar, a loud horn sounded shortly after, like from a ship, deep and powerful. Then a lot of swearing, metallic noises, like someone dragged knives along metal bars, clanking and more frustrated roars.

"Get Mavis out of here! She's making it worse!" a mechanic shouted from inside.

"But, I need to fix…"

"Not in here! Fix her in the back shed! Not in here!"

Shortly after a small female diesel engine backed out of the main building, accompanied by even louder and frustrated roars and sounds like an animal trying to break out of a cage. Mavis went around the building, into another shed. A lot of swearing could be heard over all the roaring and noises from the main building.

Mr. Conductor laughed to himself. "It's that time of year again."

"What time?" Lily and Patch wondered.

Mr. Conductor blushed, but kept his smile. "I suppose you guys are old enough to get to know this by now. I'll tell you when we arrive at our cabin. I need a cup of coffee and a sandwich first."

Both teenagers looked puzzled.

Lady tried to pull on to the tracks leading inside the dieselworks, but Mr. Conductor forced her the other way. "No, Lady!"

"Why does she want to go there?" Patch asked.

Another diesel, which Lily recognized as Arry, chugged by, the male engine eyed Lady with huge interest, but did not disobey his driver. Two other diesels followed, reacting the same way towards Lady's presence.

"The engines act kind of weird…" Lily murmured. "I thought they were used to Lady now… at least they didn't act like this when we were here last Christmas."

Mr. Conductor just smiled to himself and mumbled. "It's just the time of the year…"

Finally, they arrived at the cabin, placing Lady in the shed Burnett had built specially for her. Mr. Conductor locked the shed carefully. Lily frowned.

"I just don't want her to run off to the dieselworks…" he started to explain, but then shut up and grabbed the bags with food to carry them inside.

"Ahh… it's wonderful to be here again, isn't it?" he asked as he sat down in a recliner in the tiny livingroom.

"I'll make coffee!" Patch declared and walked to the small kitchen. Lily took out the lunchboxes from her rucksack, handing one to Mr. Conductor and put Patch's box on the table.

"Now, tell us what's going on? Why do Lady and the other engines act so strange?" She demanded and took a bite of her sandwich.

Mr. Conductor chewed thoughtfully, not sure how to start.

"Well… there is a reason why Burnett send Lady here every year at this time…" he began.

"I've figured so, but why?"

"Ugh… not sure how to explain. Umm… you know horses, right?"

Lily rolled her eyes. "Duh… what do that have to do with trains?"

"Well, sometimes…." Mr. Conductor rubbed his forehead, trying to find a way to put it. "Oh, for goodness sake… horses get in heat, ok? So do trains, only for a little longer period at a time once each year. It means they are ready to mate."

Lily liked at him sideways, looking suspicious. "Uhh… right… how do engines… umm… just how?!"

Mr. Conductor shrugged. "Nobody really knows… nobody has ever seen them breed. Or give birth for that sake… but small offspring pops up here and there."

Lily thought of it for a while. Patch had been listening from the kitchen while brewing coffee, he peeked in. "So you say that is why all the engines act so weird? Why do Burnett send Lady here when she's in heat, among all these umm… horny engines?"

"This is probably the safest place to be for her… the Fat Controller had to take care of this problem many years ago. Back then, there was even fewer female engines than today, and every year the males started fighting over them… much as horses do in the wild, they fight to be the alpha and pass on their genes. This urge is very strong in engines."

Lily did not feel comfortable about where this conversation were going. "You're not hinting that he had them all neutered, are you? I know that they do that to horses to make them calmer…"

Mr. Conductor coughed. He was not aware that the two teenagers had this much knowledge about this subject. "Well, yes… all the male engines on Sodor are… uhh… geldings."

Patch cracked up, typical for a boy at his age. He motioned with his fingers, as if he was using scissors. "Snip snip!"

"Oh, sip it, Patch!" Lily giggled and turned back to Mr. Conductor. "Then I guess the engines on the mainland aren't… and that is why Lady is sent here among all these harmless male engines."

"Correct. Burnett does not want her covered. Female engines give off a certain smell when they are in heat, a male can sniff her out from far away… but geldings will notice the smell, but not be that interested. You might noticed that outside the dieselworks."

"Yeah…" Lily blew air on her coffee to cool it down enough to drink it. "The males seemed to notice her, but they were still obedient."

Mr. Conductor swallowed the last piece of his sandwich. "The only negative effect of neutering them is that they won't be as strong as they would be if they had their jewels intact. But on the positive side, they are much more docile and obedient. Easier to control, so the Fat Controller figured he could do with less strength as long as the male engines didn't rip each other apart."

A long, complaining whistle from the shed outside caught their attention. Lily and Patch looked at each other. "Aww… She doesn't like to be locked up…"

"It's for her own good, or she'll run straight to the dieselworks." Mr. Conductor took a sip from his coffee.

"Why the dieselworks? Not the steamworks?"

Mr. Conductor grinned. "You noticed the ruckus when we passed by, right? And Mavis being removed from the main workshop?"

Lily and Patch nodded.

"There is ONE engine who isn't a gelding… and he is kept there. They lock him up there every year at this time, or else… well, let us put it in equestrian terms again. I doubt that "stallion" will go easy on the islands "mares"… so they keep him locked up for a month, until everything returns to normal."

Lily sighed. "No… please don't tell me it's…"

"Yep… the one and only." Mr. Conductor murmured and took another sip from his coffee.

"Who?" Patch said clueless.

"Diesel 10…" Mr. Conductor sighed. "I doubt Burnett would have dared to send Lady here if he had knew about this… but as long as he is locked in his shed, there won't be any problems.

Lily put the rest of her sandwich on the table. She had lost her appetite. "So THAT is why Diesel 10 has a shed away from the others… and why it is secured with both metal bars and reinforced shed doors. I noticed that the last time I was at the works."

"Yep, that and the fact that he isn't a very docile and trustworthy engine… he can be dangerous even when he doesn't smell females in heat. You heard his frustration when Mavis was in there. With that brutal strength it would be fatal to release him in that state."

"Poor thing… locked up in a small cage for a month!" Patch burst out. The other two glared at him.

"It's Diesel 10! Hello?!" Lily rolled her eyes. "Don't you remember how he chased Lady? First, he caused her to crash… and then later, here on Sodor, he chased her until he fell off that viaduct. He's dangerous enough when he is "normal"… just imagine how he would be now!"

Patch looked down. "But… those times when he chased her… it was spring, right? Just like now?"

Lily and Mr. Conductor looked like someone had hit them. They had never thought of that possibility. "Oh…" they said in unison.

"I've never thought about it that way before…" Lily whispered to herself.

Patch looked out of the window to Lady's shed. "Maybe he didn't intend on killing her, just wanted to…"

"Enough!" Mr. Conductor interrupted. This was awkward enough to discuss with two teenagers, Patch did not have to paint nasty pictures in their minds too.

However, Lily had already gotten the inner images; she shuddered and stood up, then ran for the door. "I need to barf…"

Patch rolled his eyes, he found the subject rather interesting. He was about to ask more, but Mr. Conductor raised his hand and made him remain silent.

Lily came back in, grabbing a bottle of water from the kitchen, drinking as she went back to the other two. "Why isn't Diesel 10 a gelding too? Do they use him for breeding purposes? Like with exceptionally strong or fast horses, they use them for breeding, to ensure foals with the same traits…? Ugh… not sure I want to imagine that offspring…"

Mr. Conductor shook his head. "No, they tried a few times, as they would needed more engines with Diesel 10's strength, but the offspring were too unpredictable and uncontrollable. They had to be scrapped. The Fat Controller only keeps Diesel 10 because he has no other engine with the same strength and that claw. Most of the year Diesel 10 can be kept under control and be really useful cleaning up tracks and moving scrap metal from the scrapyard."

"That makes sense." Lily nodded. "But why would Lady run off to the dieselworks, even if there is an alpha male there? She's scared of him!"

Mr. Conductor laughed low. "This is out of her control… I told you these urges are strong in engines."

Patch on the other hand looked thoughtful. "I still think it's unfair to treat that diesel like an animal… would you like to be locked in a cage, barely able to move, for a month?!"

"It's the only way to keep him at bay, Patch. Imagine what damage he could do to the poor females… he is a huge engine!" Lily shuddered again, getting nasty pictures in her mind. "Can we please stop talking about this?!"

Mr. Conductor motioned with his hands that it was ok for him, more than ok, in fact. Patch pouted, he would love to know more, but clearly, he was not going to get another word out of the middle-aged man.

"Can we go to the dieselworks to see? I am curious. I have not seen Diesel 10 up close before. We can leave Lady here… we have bikes." He suggested and looked hopeful at Lily and Mr. Conductor.

Lily sighed annoyed. "Ok… but I don't want any more talk about breeding and such!"

Patch promised not to mention it.

Soon they were on their way to the dieselworks again. Mr. Conductor stopped to talk to one of the workers, telling that he wanted to show the two curious teenagers around.

"Ok, but I must warn you… do not go past the orange cones in the works. Diesel 10 is in a foul mood these days, and anyone coming within reach of his claw is in grave danger. He's calm now, but we never know when he starts acting up again." The worker said, allowing the trio to enter.

"Wow…" Patch muttered as they walked in the dimly lit building. He grabbed Lily's arm and dragged her towards the shed. Two eerie eyes followed them from behind the solid metal bars. The warship seemed tense. Lily felt nervous as they approached. It felt like it was quiet before the storm.

The huge, terrifying engine watched their every move. Lily held Patch back as they approached the orange cones signaling the limits of the warship's claw extension. "Not too close!" she scolded.

At the same moment, Diesel 10 shot the claw out between the metal bars and snapped it in their direction. Viciously, like a hungry beast wanting to eat its prey. Patch whimpered and stumbled backwards.

"I told you this is not an engine to hang around! Let's go have a look at the others instead…" Lily tried to pull his arm. She wanted to get out of here.

"Wow… he IS like a caged animal." Patch whispered.

"Yes, yes… let's go!"

"You poor thing…" Patch said with a calm voice, as if he was talking to a nervous horse. Reaching his hand out to show he meant no harm. "Good boy… nice and calm…"

"No, Patch… he is NOT a cute and cuddly pet…" Lily sighed, but Patch ignored her.

He approached the warship slowly; the engine's eyes followed him closely.

CLANK!

The metal teeth of the claw missed Patch's face with only a few millimeters. Patch fell on his back on the hard concrete floor, crawling backwards until he hit the wall.

"I told you!" Lily scolded.

Some workers approached, rolling some barrels of oil towards the shed. They stopped by the cones, not daring to go any closer.

"What is that oil for?" Lily asked curiously.

The worker looked at Mr. Conductor, who gave a slight nod to tell him that teenagers knew about the state Diesel 10 was in now.

"In his current… uhh… mood, his engine runs constantly and nobody is able to stop him, so all we can do is making sure he doesn't overheat. His pistons are oil-cooled. But, this is as close as we can go… so we just push the barrels within his reach and let him fix the rest himself." The worker said.

"Is he really capable of doing that himself?" Both Lily and Patch were amazed. They both watched in awe as the workers used a long stick to push the barrel past the cones, towards the warship. A deep growl could be heard as the diesel lounged his claw and jerked the stick out of the workers hands, throwing it across the room. Then the claw grabbed the barrel and retreated carefully in between the metal bars. Patch walked closer to see better, but was held back.

"Not too close."

Lily turned her back to the scene; she wanted to see some friendlier engines. Maybe Mavis was still in the back shed. She had talked to that engine before; it was a far more pleasant acquaintance than Diesel 10. Patch hesitated, but then followed her.

They found Mavis and her crew in the back, where they worked on straightening out a dent in her side panel. "Hi, Mavis!"

"Lily! Patch! Good to see you!" the small diesel beamed. "I was hit by a rock in the quarry. Not much, just a small dent, really."

"Yep, we're done soon!" her driver said and patted her side.

"Glad to hear it is not serious." Lily said, stroking her hand over Mavis' livery.

"Why are you working on her back here instead of inside the works?" Patch wondered.

Mavis blushed red and looked another way, leaving the question for the crew to answer. The driver looked at Mr. Conductor, who nodded again. The teenagers knew.

"Because her scent drives Diesel 10 nuts. Even though his shed is sturdy, we fear he might be able to tear it down if he gets too worked up." They said. "Sadly, we might have to take her there to use the lift… one of her wheels needs to be changed. We just have to pray that the metal bars will hold."

Mavis' face turned red as a tomato.

"I want to see!" Patch said, almost jumping in eager. Lily sighed; she thought he had gotten scared when he almost got his face removed just a few minutes ago, but obviously not.

They both climbed into Mavis' cab along with the driver.

As soon as Mavis approached the entrance to the works, hell was unleashed inside. The noise was almost unbearable. Both Lily and Patch covered their ears, but stared fascinated at how the warship struggled to get to the female engine. His cursing and frustrated roars echoed through the works. He snapped the claw in all directions, pulling the bars, ramming himself against them and doing everything he could to break the obstacle down. The claw reminded Lily of a fierce crocodile as the teeth locked around one of the bars, trying to chew through them, the metallic grinding were painful to the ear. Sparks flew through the air.

Mavis licked her lips, her eyes glossed over by lust.

"Snap out of it, girl!" her driver scolded as he loaded her on to the lift. "Don't even think about it."

Lily slowly walked backwards to the safety outside. She did not like this at all; it scared her so much, her legs felt weak. Diesel 10 paused, breathing like an angry bull with his eyes fixed on Mavis. Then he threw himself against the bars again with a fierce roar, snapping the claw to grab the smaller diesel, but she was out of his reach. An oily liquid leaked from Mavis' undercarriage, the sight of this turned the warship howl in frustration, dragging the claw along the metal bars causing a deafening shrieking sound. Everyone covered their ears.

"Cool down!" a mechanic yelled and sprayed Diesel 10 with a fire hose. The huge engine backed into his shed until he rammed the wall, spitting and cursing, trying to avoid the water jet.

For a second Lily felt sorry for the fearsome engine. Spraying him with water at such high pressure was just mean! She leaped forward and pushed the mechanic holding the hose over. "Stop it! You're hurting him!"

Diesel 10 whimpered as he shook his body to get rid of the water, just like a dog. It looked somewhat cute, even though the menacing engine was the complete opposite of cute. Lily smiled. However, the brief moment of cuteness stopped once the warship turned his attention to the female on the lift.

"That's enough. We just have to close the doors completely…" another mechanic said, pushing a button on the wall, making the sturdy metal doors slide shut. Behind them, they could still hear Diesel 10 slamming, cursing and raising hell. At least it felt a bit safer, having two sets of obstacles in front of him.

"We usually keep the doors open, to let the fans draw the exhaust out, but we have no choice when we have to bring a female in here. Phew… I'll be so happy when this period is over." The mechanic explained.

Lily looked at the shut door, hearing the diesel's frustration from inside. Mavis whimpered on the lift, still dripping. The situation felt awkward to the two teenagers, they walked outside.

"I don't need this knowledge about trains…" muttered Lily. "I prefer just imagining them as friendly, docile beings without these… needs…"

Patch did not answer as he found it rather intriguing. He knew he would not be able to sleep tonight.

Later that night. Patch made sure Mr. Conductor and Lily were asleep, then snuck out of the cabin. He overheard Lady's whimpers from the shed as he grabbed one of the bikes that were leant against the wall. Quickly, he raced towards the dieselworks.

Lily woke up as she heard Lady's frustrated noises, sneaking out to check on her. She opened the door and walked inside. "Poor girl… you'd rather be outside, huh?"

She put a hand on the small engine's face, stroking her carefully. A tear blinked in Lady's eye.

"I promise I will take you for a drive tomorrow, ok?" Lily promised and went back outside. Then she noticed that one of the bikes were missing. "That's strange…"

Then a realization hit her, and she ran back inside the cabin, only to find Patch's bed empty. She hissed as she suddenly understood what he was up to. He had shown an abnormal interest of Diesel 10 today.

"No, Patch… you can't be THAT stupid!" she moaned as she took a bike and went the same direction as Patch went only a few minutes earlier.

To her dismay and fear, she was right. As she walked inside the main building of the dieselworks, the gates of the shed were already opening. Patch stood by the control panel. Fierce, impatient wheezing could be heard from the shed.

"Stop, Patch! Hurry up an close the gates! This is madness!" Lily shouted, but had to move out of the way as the gates were forced open by the warship inside, the engine shot out like an arrow and didn't even wait for the turntable to rise before he raced off the edge and incredibly enough, landed straight on the tracks below. A few seconds later, he was gone.

"Wow! Look at him go, Lily!" Patch said in awe.

"You idiot! What have you done?!" Lily grabbed his collar and shook him. "The Fat Controller is not going to be happy… and how on earth are we supposed to get Diesel 10 back in the shed now? We are two tiny, weak humans… and as you saw, even that sturdy shed was barely enough to keep him inside! Oh my God…"

Patch looked like he suddenly realized what bad idea this had been. "I only wanted to let him stretch out a little… being locked up and unable to move must be awful."

"I understand, but you just released the most brutal engine on Sodor! We can only pray that his sense of smelling is bad enough not to find any of the female engines… or we're in deep shit, Patch!"

"Oh crap…"

"Yeah! "Oh crap!"" Lily mocked. "Not to mention… Oh no… Lady!"

The realization hit her like a bucket of ice-cold water. "This will be a disaster! She is the tiniest female on the island… and Diesel 10 is huge!"

Patch looked down at the grey concrete floor. "I'm sorry…"

"Yeah, you should be!" Lily shouted as she threw herself on to the bike and pedaled back to the cabin.

"No… no no!" she yelled as she saw the doors of the shed was open, the buffer Mr. Conductor had placed to keep her inside was knocked over. A wet track was left between the rails. "She has escaped… searching for a mate."

Patch looked like he was about to cry. Lily slapped him. "This is YOUR fault!"

In distance, they could hear a thin, seductive whistle peep. They both shuddered as they heard a deep, eerie air horn answer to the call.

"It's too late…" Lily cried.

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To be continued!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I do not own any of the characters, they all belong to HIT.

In this story, the trains are a bit more animal-like in their behavior. I also imagine them as a little more flexible and softer than real life machines. Sort of bio-mechanic.

.

Chapter 2

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«Patch! You're the biggest idiot I know!» Lily cried as she stormed inside the cabin to wake up Mr. Conductor. She knew they wouldn't stand a chance against Diesel 10 without him.

Mr. Conductor had already woken up by the whistle and the air-horn, he was sitting in the bed, listening. He looked up as Lily slammed the door open.

"Lily? What's going on?" he asked as he saw the panic in her eyes.

"Diesel 10 is loose! And Lady has ran away!" she cried.

For a second, Mr. Conductor only sat there, not able to understand what she said, then it came to him. "Lady is gone… and Diesel 10 has escaped from his shed?"

"Yes! Or… he didn't exactly escape, but… I'll tell you later, ok! Just hurry up, we need to do something!" Lily pulled his arm.

"Of course! Get some sugar from the kitchen, Lily. It's is the only thing Diesel 10 is afraid of." He said as he got out of his pajamas and into his clothes.

"How is that going to be of any use? We won't be able to get close enough to pour it into his tank…" Lily shrugged, but got the sugar anyway.

"I know… but he still seems terrified of it, so it might be useful anyway."

Soon, they stood outside with Patch, who looked very guilty and ashamed.

"Where to start?" Lily wondered.

"We need an engine. We won't go fast enough with the bikes." Mr. Conductor muttered. "Come, let's go to the dieselworks and see if there is anyone we can borrow!"

They all threw themselves on the bikes, pedaling fast to the dieselworks, it was the nearest place where they could find an engine. Mr. Conductor ran to the sheds, opening the doors, but there was no diesels in there now.

"Crap!" he ran to the main building, quickly ran up to the sheds. Diesel 10's shed was open, he frowned as he saw that there was no sign of force to the doors. He turned to Lily and Patch. Patch looked down.

"I… I let him out. I'm sorry!" Patch mumbled.

Mr. Conductor just growled, he didn't have time to scold him now. But Patch was in for one hell of a spanking later!

An mechanic greeted him as he came running. "Can I help you?"

"I need an engine! Fast!" Mr. Conductor flipped the switches to open one of the sheds beside Diesel 10's. The reinforced steel doors started sliding up, but the mechanic leaped forward to shut it again.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you! Only a few selected drivers are allowed to drive those…"

Mr. Conductor's fist hit the man straight in the nose, knocking him out. He dragged him out of the rails and flipped the switch again to open it. He had seen a set of wheels in there, he knew there was an engine there, and he needed it!

"Come on, come on! Open faster!" he grumbled watching the doors open slowly. An engine revved inside, almost fierce. Then it threw itself towards the door, knocking it off it's hinges, sending it flying into the room. Mr. Conductor managed to jump out of the way before it rammed him. A hazard-striped shunter darted out, snarling towards him. He held up his hands, not daring to take his eyes away from the fierce engine.

"Woah… easy… no need to be aggressive…" he said slow and calm, slowly moving towards the diesel's cab. "Shh… I just need your help…"

The shunter backed, baring his teeth, growling with his eyes fixed at the man walking towards him with open hands. Patch and Lily stared, both were tense and prepared for the worst.

Lily decided to help, maybe the engine would get confused if they approached from different sides, as he couldn't watch them both at the same time. She jumped startled as she heard a frustrated roar from inside the other shed, accompanied with intense banging at the steel door. There was obviously two of these engines…

"Is every engine on this island psychotic monsters?" Patch whimpered.

"I thought it was only Diesel 10, but obviously these two has blown a fuse or two also…" Lily mumbled. "And stay away from that switch to the shed! It's enough with two on the loose!"

Patch backed away, he had learnt his lesson now. "But… that engine seemed so friendly earlier today…" he whimpered, looking at the engine Mr. Conductor tried to approach.

"Unless you're going to help us out, stay out of our way!" Lily snapped.

"You only need to get into his cab, right? Then you'll have somewhat control over him, right?" Patch asked.

"Yes!" Lily hissed, not taking her eyes off the aggressive shunter. His eyes moved between her and , like he tried to figure out which of them was the biggest threat. Or which one he was going to kill first… she shuddered.

"Use me as bait!" Patch said. "I want to make it up to everyone for releasing Diesel 10."

"No, Patch! That's…" Lily wasn't able to finish before the teenaged boy jumped on to the rails in front of the diesel.

"Hey! Arry! Look at me!" he shouted and waved his arms, trying to catch the engine's attention. The hazard-striped diesel eyes them all suspiciously, not sure how to react, he wanted to run, but at the same time the humans were quite menacing. He growled deep and eerie towards them, backing into his shed.

"Oh, great… how are we supposed to get into his cab now?!" Lily slapped her forehead, rolling her eyes over Patch's idea. "Don't you know anything about horses?"

"This is not a horse!" Patch protested. "Ok… let me try another approach…"

Both Lily and Mr. Conductor sighed. "Look, Patch… either he will run you over, or he will stay in there. We might as well shut the door and try Bert instead… uhh… right… there is no door anymore… damn. Ok, we need to lure Arry out then. Argh! This is taking too long! And while we're here, Lady is in danger… somewhere out there…"

"But why are Arry and Bert so aggressive? They seemed so calm earlier today." Lily wondered, trying to walk closer to the ironworks diesel. He darted forward to bite her, then retreated.

"Ouch!" Lily yelled, looking at her arm and the bitemark. "You asshole!"

"Bad diesel! Bad!" Patch scolded as he walked closer to the shed, only to get knocked over as Arry darted out again. The diesel quickly retreated again, his eyes almost glowing in the dim light.

Mr. Conductor pulled Patch away from the rails, to make sure he didn't risk being run over if the diesel decided to flee.

Lily sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Mr. Conductor… is there any treat diesels enjoy which we can lure him out with?"

"No, the only thing is diesel and oil, but that's no treat, so it won't work." Mr. Conductor sighed.

"Of course… it wasn't going to be an easy way to do this." Lily moaned.

"How about we beat him with a stick?" Patch joked, trying to be funny, but failed badly.

"No!" Lily shouted. "That's not how you calm down an aggressive horse… I mean.. engine!"

Patch held up his hands, he hadn't actually meant it. He would never hurt an engine. The hazard-striped diesel scowled at him. "I wasn't going to beat you! Though it IS tempting after you pushed me over!" Patch snarled at the diesel. He received a deep growl coming from deep inside the engine in response.

"Patch, stay out of the way. Go over there!" Lily pointed at the lift. Then Patch would be out of sight for the tense diesel.

Then she turned her attention back to the snarling diesel, he was baring his teeth at her, following her every move, like a cornered fox.

"He seems to be scared of us, Mr. Conductor. I wonder why…" Lily said, frowning at the strange behavior.

"You're right… that's quite strange. He is much larger than us and could easily take us out if he wanted to…" Mr. Conductor whispered. "If only he knew that we're probably more afraid of him than he is of us…"

Lily slowly walked towards the ironworks diesel with her hands open, to show that she meant no harm.

"Easy, Arry…" she swallowed hard, trying not to make any provoking movements. "Easy, boy… I'm a friend…"

The hazard-striped shunter eyed her suspiciously, tensing up as she came closer. His chassis was trembling, ready to attack.

"I'll be nice to you if you're nice to me…" she said calm and firm. "You've already bit me once, but I promise I am not mad… easy, boy."

Mr. Conductor almost held his breath, as she was so close; she only needed to stretch out her arm to touch the engine's face.

"Good boy…" Lily kept talking, taking another step, reaching her arm out towards the diesel.

Arry growled while baring his teeth, staring at her hand as if he expected punishment. He breathed heavy, his body was trembling.

Lily held her breath as her fingers touched his face, feeling the stubble like sandpaper against her skin. Still, the diesel hadn't snapped at her. She tried not to show how nervous she was.

She moved closer, placing her hand on his cheek. "Good boy…"

The shunter twitched, but stood still, just staring wide eyed at her.

"See? I'm not dangerous." Lily said, now going close enough to lean her face against him too, stroking him carefully with her hand. His paint felt cold against her hand, but his face was warm. He stopped trembling. She stood there for a while, talking and caressing the big machine, calming him down as she would calm down a horse.

"Good boy, Arry." She whispered. "We need your help… will you let that man over there come over and say hi?"

Mr. Conductor smiled, holding his hands out like Lily had done. "I'm harmless, big boy."

He walked slowly towards the diesel, until he could also touch him, stroking him friendly. "Easy… well done…"

Patch peeked around the corner; Arry tensed up again, but relaxed as soon as the two other humans stroked his sides assuring him the young boy wasn't a bad guy.

"Will you move a little forward for me?" Lily whispered to the engine.

Now the diesel growled again, backing until his rear touched the wall. Lily sighed. "Ok, so stay there then! I hope you'll rot in here! You stubborn jackass!"

Then she stormed off, with tears in her eyes. Lady was doomed… they were stuck here with this disobedient diesel and… for one second she considered opening the other shed to release his twin, but changed her mind. Two psychotic engines would be too much to handle…

Patch grabbed her arm, holding her back. "I think I know how to lure him out…"

Lily sighed. "As long as you don't suggest beating him with sticks or whatnot…"

"No, no…" Patch pointed at a wet, oily stain under the lift. "Take that cloth over there and rub it into that stuff…"

"Eww, Patch! That's from Mavis…"

"Yes! Exactly!" Patch said, grabbing a cloth, letting it soak up the liquid. "Here! Hold it up to his nose!"

"Arry is a gelding, Patch… I don't think it will work." Lily rolled her eyes, but took the cloth anyway, walking back to Mr. Conductor and the diesel. It was worth a try.

The reaction was intense, as soon as she came around the corner, the hazard-striped shunter tensed up, sniffing into the air curiously.

Lily gasped as the diesel darted after her; she dropped the cloth and ran for safety. Mr. Conductor saw his chance to jump into Arry's cab as the diesel skidded to a stop, sniffing the cloth on the rails. A disappointed snort escaped the engine as he realized it was just a trap. Then he noticed that there was someone in his cab. He raced back to his shed, then back forward again, quickly switching track to make a turn, trying to throw Mr. Conductor out.

"You're not getting rid of me that easily, you blockhead!" Mr. Conductor shouted from inside, clinging to the handrails by the doors. "You might as well stop, or you will only tire yourself out."

To everyone's surprise Arry stopped, he trembled in anger and frustration, breathing heavy, but stood still long enough for Lily and Patch to climb onboard.

Mr. Conductor ordered the diesel to drive on to the turntable to go to the ground floor. It took a little force and smooth talk, but he made it eventually.

As soon as the diesel got out to the fresh night air, he stood still for a while, sniffing into the air. The three people inside peeked out.

"What is he doing now?" Lily wondered, as the diesel moved slowly forward while sniffing the rails.

"I have no idea… WOAH!" Mr. Conductor grabbed the nearest handrail as the shunter leaped forward at a high speed.

Patch and Lily got back on their feet, clinging to a handrail, peeking out of the cab. The surroundings blurred as they were rattling fast through the scenery.

"Are they supposed to go this fast? Isn't he a shunter? They're not fast…" Patch whimpered worried as they thundered along the line. "He shouldn't be able to go faster than 20 mph… but this is way over that! I'm scared…"

All of Mr. Conductor's attempts at braking and slowing the diesel down failed, it was out of control.

"I don't know… maybe Topham has modified them?" Lily said, amazed. "It's not the first time I see this island's shunters go unnaturally fast…"

"Could be…" Mr. Conductor mumbled trying to regain control. "Damn, why isn't he obeying me?! Not even the slightest sign of reaction to my commands!"

"Umm… are you sure all except Diesel 10 are geldings?" Lily shouted as Arry sounded his air-horn, the noise was deafening.

"Topham said so… all the drivers had to sign a paper when they had neutered their engine." Mr. Conductor shouted back, now sitting down on the floor. It was no use trying to control the diesel anyway, so he gave up.

"What if Arry's driver lied?" Lily suggested.

"Why should he?"

"They need the extra strength at the scrapyard and the smelters, right? You said they will become weaker if neutered." Lily shouted and covered her ears as the air-horn sounded again.

"Cut it out, Arry!" she scolded, slamming a fist into the wall. "You're making us deaf in here! We let you out, the least you can do is being quiet!"

Mr. Conductor looked at her, rubbing his chin. "Hmm… but the males get uncontrollable when the females are in heat."

"Do you have any control at all?" Lily said sarcastic, motioning towards the window to show how fast they were going. "Says it all, if you ask me…"

"He seemed rather obedient when we met him earlier today…" Mr. Conductor frowned thoughtful. "They must have found a way to keep him at bay without neutering him then…"

"My thoughts exactly!" Lily said.

"I wonder what they do to him then…" Patch said, looking around inside the cab, not seeing anything out of the ordinary.

"Obviously nothing good since he seems so afraid of humans…" Lily muttered, feeling sorry on behalf of the diesel. "I swear if they are hurting him, I will kill them! I hate it when an engine is abused! It's just as bad as animal-abuse! It makes me sooo mad!"

"Second that!" Mr. Conductor said, clenching his fists. "No engine deserves cruelty, no matter how bad they might be themselves."

They sat there, silent for a while, pondering over how to save Lady and capture Diesel 10 before he sniffed out the island's female engines. Patch looked up.

"If Arry isn't a gelding… maybe he will sniff out Lady first?" he shouted over the rattling from the wheels. "If so, he will lead us straight to her! That's good right?"

Lily and Mr. Conductor looked at each other. "Patch is right… maybe that's why he is speeding around like this? We'll just have to wait and see where he is taking us… or until he runs out of fuel."

"But is it any better if Arry finds her first?" Lily muttered. "I mean… he might be smaller than Diesel 10, but he won't be easy to stop either… we're just tiny humans against 50 tons of steel…"

"We're literally screwed, not matter what engine gets to Lady first… and now I am sort of hoping it will be Diesel 10, so we won't have to ehh… join the action, so to speak… we're inside a sexually frustrated engine full of testosterone, you know." Patch muttered, picking at a scratch in the floorplates. "I'm not sure I want to be part of that…"

"Shut up, Patch! You're making me sick!" Lily held her hand over her mouth to avoid vomiting. "Now I also start hoping Diesel 10 will arrive first… oh, God, I'm a horrible person for even thinking such fate for poor, little Lady…"

Mr. Conductor did a poor attempt on comforting her. "Well, Arry IS smaller than Diesel 10, so it would be less fatal for her…"

"I don't want to be inside him while he… he… rapes her!" Lily shouted, tearing up. "But we're trapped here… and it's all your fault, Patch!"

"It wouldn't be rape though… Lady is more than ready to mate… maybe she'll even enjoy it…" Patch tried to smooth over.

Lily slapped him at the back of his head, sobbing violently.

"Either way, Lady is going to get covered… and I don't know which one is the worst!" she cried, slamming a fist to the floor, in a poor attempt on hurting the racing diesel. Then she sobbed, stroking the floor instead. "Sorry… I promised not to hurt you."

The hazard-striped shunter didn't seem to have noticed the hit or her caressing, he thundered over a hill towards a dense forest. Mr. Conductor looked out of the window, worried. It was dark outside, only the moonlight lit up the surroundings. The forest got more and more dense, but the ironworks diesel didn't slow down, Mr. Conductor folded his hands and prayed that they wouldn't derail.

Then they heard a thin whistle in distance, peeping in excitement. Lily looked up.

"Lady! It's Lady!" she yelled, hopeful at first, but then she realized what it meant. "Oh no…"

Lady whistled again, closer this time. Arry answered to her call. The three humans inside covered their ears as his air-horn blasted through the night.

Lily opened the door, thinking about jumping out, but they were going too fast. She really didn't want to be in there if or when they got to Lady, as they were sure as hell not being able to control the ironworks shunter any more then than they already had… or rather not had.

"Lily, we're going to fast, you'll die if you jump out now!" Mr. Conductor pulled her back, shutting the door.

"I know… but I'll die inside if… if Lady…" Lily broke down crying. She sat down on the floor, covering her ears and squeezing her eyes shut. She tried to shut everything out, preparing for what she considered the worst.

"Burnett will kill me…" Patch said, realizing that Lady's fate was sealed.

"I'll try to think of something…" Mr. Conductor said, starting to feel distressed. "If we can't stop her from being covered, we just have to pray that she will survive…"

"I don't know what will be worse… if she dies, we can make up a story about an accident…" Patch mumbled.

"Patch! Listen to yourself!" Mr. Conductor scolded. "I thought you cared for Lady."

"I do… but…" Patch looked down at the floor. For a long time, he just sat there listening to the rattling of the wheels, feeling the movements from the engine, seeing Lily curled up on the floor crying with her eyes closed and ears covered.

"I was an idiot for releasing Diesel 10…" he muttered sadly.

"And I should have listened to that mechanic before releasing Arry…" Mr. Conductor replied. "I seriously thought he was gelded like the others… if so, we would have been able to save Lady, but now…"

"…we're stuck in an engine out of control, driven by instincts…" Patch continued, feeling the world upon his shoulder. "… and probably end up getting Burnetts precious engine knocked up by the most mean-spirited diesels on Sodor, no matter which of them gets her first."

"Arry's offspring would probably be easier to handle than Diesel 10's…" Mr. Conductor mumbled to himself, folding his hands to pray again. This time praying that Lady would get away safely, but he knew it was in vain… she was just as over-aroused as the two diesels who were hunting her.

Suddenly they were thrown forward as the brakes were slammed on, screeching to a stop. They all looked up, hearing the diesel growl eerie. Mr. Conductor dared to peek outside. He quickly retreated as Arry started to move again, slower this time.

"It's Lady…" he said sadly.

"Maybe we can jump out now that he is slower…" Lily said hopeful, jerking the door. It wouldn't budge! "It's… locked! Mr. Conductor! What are we going to do?!"

Mr. Conductor just shook his head sadly, sitting down on the floor, grabbing a handrail to avoid being tossed around by any sudden movements. Patch followed his example.

"Are we just going to give up?! Sit here and let him… finish his business?!" Lily cried, jerking the door. She burst into tears, sliding down the wall, curling up again, covering her ears and squeezing her eyes shut. As she heard Lady make noises outside and whistle, she started singing loud and out of tune, to shut everything out. She did NOT want to witness this, but she knew she would feel the movements no matter how hard she tried to cut off all her other senses.

"La la la LA LA LALA!" she screamed desperate, waiting for the unavoidable. "LA LA LA!"

.

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To be continued!


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: I do not own any of the characters, they all belong to HIT.

In this story, the trains are a bit more animal-like in their behavior. I also imagine them as a little more flexible and softer than real life machines. Sort of bio-mechanic.

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Chapter 3

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They were all thrown around, slamming against the metal walls as Arry leapt forward to get to Lady, who had already positioned herself, ready to mate. The tiny Victorian engine wheezed and wiggled to titillate the male engine, lowering herself, welcoming him by showing him her privates. Lily now cried violently, knowing there was nothing they could do to prevent this from happening.

"Please stop… please be out of fuel… or have a sudden engine failure or whatever, just do not…"

Her prayer wasn't heard, the male diesel was mounting the small steamie, and by the movements that followed, they knew what was happening.. If they still had any doubts, Lady's oversexed and pleasurable whimpers removed the last of it.

Lily bit her hand to prevent herself from screaming or worse, vomiting. She felt broken inside, being part of this action.

"This is beyond disgusting!" she choked out.

"I hope engines don't last long in such… activity." Patch mumbled, blushing red from embarrassment.

"I have no idea…" Mr. Conductor muttered stone faced. "Like I said, nobody has ever seen them mate…"

"For some reason I don't feel honored to be the first human to witness it…" Patch sniffled, feeling the whole situation really awkward. "The only thing that would be worse is if Diesel 10 also shows up… what will happen then? Will he wait for his turn or will there be a fight?"

"Shut up!" Lily screamed at the top of her lungs, not wanting to dwell any deeper into this misery. It was bad enough to know that Lady was being raped by a diesel shunter. Or… it wasn't really rape, judging from the noises she made, but still… Lily knew she would have nightmares for a long time to come!

She quickly covered her ears as Lady screamed in joy, blowing her whistle at the same time. A loud wheeze blew steam all over the area.

"At least there is someone having a great time…" Patch muttered dry. "We're the first to witness a steam engine having an orgasm… and probably a diesel orgasm too, sooner or later."

"I told you to shut up! I rather not think about it!" Lily sobbed, wiping away her tears with angry movements.

"How is it possible NOT to think about it?!" Patch said rolling his eyes. They could feel the movements of the whole act, hearing the noises… there was impossible to ignore it.

Mr. Conductor just sat there looking down at the floor while clinging to the handrail. He was trying to figure out what to say to Burnett.

"I hope they only does it once… so we don't have to join in another ride…" Patch mumbled.

"How is this testosterone bomb of an engine supposed to have any energy left for that?! He's already been at it like forever! Is he ever going to finish it soon?!"

"Well, they have been kept away from the females for a long time… maybe he tries to enjoy it as long as he can?" Patch pondered.

"Oh God, please do not try to humanize him… like this is more than just instincts."

"I don't know… I don't know much about this part of an engine's life."

"I wish I wasn't forced to find out... but here we are!"

All three became silent, just staring into the air with empty stares as they waited for the two engines to be done.

Suddenly Arry's engine revved, his rpm's skyrocketed. Mr. Conductor looked up at the gauges, seeing how the oil-pressure increased. With a loud hiss from the hydraulics and a bang from the motor, the oil-pressure dropped back to normal and all the movements stopped. They could hear both engines breathe heavy outside.

"Thank God it is over…" Lily choked out, letting her tears flow. "I hope there is still something left of poor Lady… my poor girl…"

She looked up as there was a click from the door lock as Arry dismounted Lady. She jerked the doorhandle, ripping the door open and jumped outside. The other two followed right after. The cold night air stung their faces.

It was silent, only the heavy breath from the two engines who had more or less collapsed on the tracks could be heard.

Lily walked over to Lady, looking over her to see how bad the damage was. To her surprise, it wasn't that bad. Just a few scratches and dents, but nothing big. She had to look away as she saw the liquids dripping from her undercarriage, a mix from both engines. The pink engine had a goofy grin on her face, while sweat was running from her forehead. She had obviously gotten what she craved.

"You should be ashamed of yourself, girl!" Lily scolded. "Shamelessly giving yourself away like that!"

"What do we do now?" Patch asked, looking at Mr. Conductor.

"I don't know… I don't think any of these two will be able to run yet, they need to rest a little." Mr. Conductor scratched his chin. "Hopefully they are a bit calmer and controllable after this… Lily could drive Lady, while I drive Arry and lock him up… crap, I forgot about the door… How the hell are we supposed to keep him from running off to the next female as long as we can't cage him?!"

"We could lock him up in Diesel 10's shed…" Patch suggested.

"I don't plan on letting Diesel 10 run loose forever! And neither do I plan on releasing Arry's brother either, so we need to come up with something…"

An airhorn blared nearby making them cover their ears. They all stared at each other in shock as they heard the rattling of wheels coming straight toward them.

"Run!" Mr. Conductor pulled their arms, making them run for cover in the forest.

"Oh no…" Lily whimpered, throwing one last glance at Lady. Her fate was sealed… if Arry hadn't already knocked her up, Diesel 10 sure would.

They hid themselves behind a big rock, peeking out.

"This can get ugly…" Mr. Conductor whispered as they saw Arry straighten up, growling.

Diesel 10 approached with his claw aimed towards the other male, snarling. Lady peeped, not sure how to react to two males in her presence.

"Run away, Lady… please… you don't want to get caught between them…" Lily cried.

It was a weird display. Diesel 10 and Arry bared their teeth, snarling while eyeing each other. Lady covered, feeling the aggression linger in the air.

A loud metallic noise could be heard and the three humans stared in shock and surprise as Arry's siderods broke and fell to the ground. This obviously increased his ability to move as the hazard-striped shunter jumped over to the parallel track, crouching and getting ready to leap at the warship.

"I… I had no idea they could do that…" Patch stuttered. "Does this mean they can go off the tracks… I mean… what if they come after us?!"

"No no… I knew they could do this, but they prefer staying on the rails, their wheels are rather useless on normal terrain." Mr. Conductor said. "The siderods are applied for better stability and smoother speed and better handling."

They watched as Diesel 10 also broke loose from his siderods to take on Arry. The two engines moved around like two beasts ready to tear each other apart.

"Why doesn't Arry back down? He won't stand a chance against Diesel 10!" Lily whimpered. As much as she disliked what he had done to Lady, she didn't want to see an engine get killed before her eyes.

"He's trying to protect her, he has mated with her and will die to protect her to ensure that his offspring will survive."

"But he can't win this. The only thing that will happen is that he will die and Diesel 10 will get Lady anyway. He should back down!" Lily was terrified.

Then everything happened fast. Diesel 10 shot out his claw to ram the iron-diesel, Arry jumped out of the way, taking another leap and rammed into the claw, crushing it against Diesel 10's sidepanel.

This caused an extreme rage in the warship, who swung the damaged claw around hitting the other diesel with full strength, sending him flying into the forest.

Lily, Patch and Mr. Conductor ducked behind the rock, covering their head as gravel and dirt flew around them. A small three fell over as Arry crashed into it.

The hazard-striped diesel was lying on his side, breathing like an angry bull, severely damaged. Oil was leaking from him and he had a huge rip in his sidepanel.

Lily was about to run over to him, but was held back by Mr. Conductor. He shook his head.

"Don't… it's not safe."

In the same second, the wounded diesel threw himself around and struggled his way back to the rails with a fierce roar.

Lily peeked out to check on Lady, she was relieved when she saw that the tiny steam engine had taken shelter at a blind-track behind an old shed. Lady whimpered in fear, staring at the two males trying to kill each other.

"Sir Topham Hatt won't be pleased if he ends up with one dead engine, one damaged engine and all of his female engines pregnant…" Mr. Conductor groaned, hiding his face in his hands, this was a complete mess, and he felt guilty for releasing Arry into it. Now he would have to answer for getting the shunter killed too… not only Diesel 10 rampage around the island.

"It's all my fault…" Patch whispered, now crying too. He was the one who had started it all, by letting Diesel 10 out of his shed. "If only we could prevent those two from murdering each other… or rather Diesel 10 murdering Arry… we can't undo what has happened to Lady, but at least we wouldn't end up with any dead engines…"

Mr. Conductor lit up, suddenly he had gotten an idea.

"There is! Why didn't I think of it before?! I had forgot…" He reached for Lily's backpack, taking out the bag of sugar. Then he ran down to the two aggressive engines, running in between them.

"Stop it! Both of you!" he screamed, flailing the sugar around to make sure they both saw it. The two diesels bared their teeth at him, now focusing on him instead of each other.

Mr. Conductor tried desperately to keep an eye on both of them at once, but having one behind him and one on front of him, it was hard. It had seemed like a good idea, but now he realized he had no plan. He didn't fear Arry as much as Diesel 10, so he studied to warship to find a weak spot. The claw was defect, it was hanging down, only the hydraulic arm was still functioning. It could still be used to knock him out if he wasn't careful. It seemed like the huge diesel also had gotten some battlescars, the small shunter probably was able to move faster, so he had gotten a few blows. An open hole in his side leaked fuel and bellowed smoke. Both engines sure needed some repairs…

He quickly looked at Arry, the smaller diesel was looking worse. He had a bad leakage, a huge rip in his sidepanels and now and then sparks flew from his generator box, as if it was going to short circuit any time now. If he hadn't stopped this fight now, the hazard-striped diesel would probably have been finished off pretty soon.

"Ok… this was a bit to impulsive… think, think, think." He mumbled to himself, trying to figure out his next move. Maybe Lily could run away with Lady while he kept the two diesels at bay with the sugar?

"Lily?" he shouted. "Are you able to get Lady away from here?"

"I think so…" was the reply from behind the rock.

In his side view, he could see Lily run towards the tiny steamie, jumping into her cab.

Diesel 10 suddenly flung his claw extension towards him. Mr. Conductor managed to crouch and avoid it, but it rammed Arry, sending him flying off the rails again. This time, the shunter didn't get back up, but remained on his side, motionless.

"Sorry, Topham… you've lost an engine…" Mr. Conductor said with broken voice, following Diesel 10's moves with his stare, the warship moved slowly forward, blocking Lady's escape route.

Then the claw knocked the sugar out of his hands, for a second he stared at the sugar scattered all over the ground. The warship grinned menacingly, now focusing on the small steam engine instead.

"Lily! Get out and run!" Mr. Conductor yelled, running for cover himself.

Soon, they were all hiding behind the rock again.

Lily covered her ears to Lady's whimpers. At least she didn't have to be inside the male engine this time, but it was painful to know what was going on anyway.

"How are we going to tell Burnett that his precious engine was gang-raped by Sodor's diesels?!" Patch covered his face with his hands, crying in despair.

"You can start by telling him how the diesels were released in the first place! Especially Diesel 10!" Lily sobbed angry and frustrated. When and how would this nightmare end?

"And how am I going to tell Sir Topham Hatt that I got one of his diesels killed…?" Mr. Conductor groaned rubbing his forehead in frustration.

"Arry isn't dead… I think…" Lily said, looking over to the shunter lying a few meters from them. She stood up, holding one hand up to she didn't have to see what Diesel 10 was doing to Lady. The ironworks diesel was still breathing, but he sure looked bad. The mechanics would get their hands full if they were going to repair him. The most humane would probably be to scrap him. But that decision was up to Sir Topham.

"Easy, big boy…" she whispered, stroking a hand over his face. The diesel didn't notice, he was unconscious.

"Is he dead?" Patch asked, peeking out from behind the rock.

"No… not yet at least…" she shouted back.

"Ok, we'll deal with that later. At least he can't do any damage anymore, so now we need to focus on luring Diesel 10 back into his shed." Mr. Conductor said glumly.

A deep roar echoed through the forest, marking the end of the breeding. The humans breathed out, now they didn't have to witness anymore disgusting actions.

For a minute, they just sat there trying to come up with a plan how to capture the warship.

"Maybe he's so exhausted from both the fight and the mating, he is able to be controlled now? We could just drive him back?" Patch suggested.

"Maybe… let's give it a try." Mr. Conductor stood up.

"He's not there!" Lily gasped, peeking out from behind Arry.

"Arg! Give me a break!" Mr. Conductor moaned. The huge diesel had run off, probably searching for another female already. Only Lady was left, she was now completely exhausted, panting and wheezing. Sweat dripped from her face. But she had a huge smile on her lips.

Lily wanted to slap the little engine, scolding her for allowing two males to have their way with her. But it was no use, what was done was done.

"Ok, so now… Burnett will get a baby engine to care for. He won't be happy…" she said flatly.

"I wonder which of them who got her covered. Arry or Diesel 10…" Patch muttered unhappy.

"I guess we'll find out when the baby is born, but it will be months until that will happen. Now, we have to focus on catching Diesel 10… and get this guy to the dieselworks."

"Oh, I can't wait to be yelled at by Topham and the mechanics… on the other hand, Sir Topham needs to take a serious talk to Arry and Bert's drivers for lying about gelding them!" Mr. Conductor said, pressing two fingers against his nose bridge to force the headache away.

They walked over to Lady, cleaning away some debris after the fight. The little steamie looked up, looking perky and eager to go. She had gotten what she wanted, twice, so now she was very high-spirited.

"I'm so disappointed in you, Lady…" Lily sighed, rolling her eyes. "Don't you have any dignity? Letting two guys get you, only minutes apart! I thought you were a decent, good girl!"

"Obviously, she is a naughty girl…" Patch snickered, now having gotten over the shock over what they had been through.

"Shut up, Patch." Lily mumbled, climbing into Lady's cab, ignoring the liquids seeping from her undercarriage. She knew too well what those liquids were, and she didn't want to give it another thought.

"So… the plan is to get a crane and a flatbed to load Arry onto, and then hunt down Diesel 10?" she asked Mr. Conductor.

"I guess so… I am tempted to hunt down that warship first, but I don't think Sir Topham will be happy if we left one of his shunters here to die…"

Lady whimpered sore as she looked over to the wrecked diesel in the bushes, Lily wasn't sure if it was because she wanted more or because she knew the male engine was dying.

"Ok, let's go saving lives… in more than one way." Mr. Conductor said and made Lady move.

The small Victorian engine seemed invigorated, puffing down the line with a loud whistle.

"I wish she wasn't so extremely satisfied. I think it all was really disgusting…" Lily moaned, ashamed over Lady's attitude.

"She's acting like a hoe." Patch said.

Lily's hand rammed his cheek, leaving it red and sore from the slap.

"Focus on our mission, kids." Mr. Conductor scolded, looking into the horizon.

.

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To be continued!


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: I do not own any of the characters, they all belong to HIT.

In this story, the trains are a bit more animal-like in their behavior. I also imagine them as a little more flexible and softer than real life machines. Sort of bio-mechanic.

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Chapter 4

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Lily looked back at the wounded diesel in the bushes. He was breathing heavy and strained, like he was in great pain, and he really looked bad.

"I don't have the heart to leave him like this…" she said, jumping out of Lady's cab. Slowly she walked over to Arry, as if she expected him to jump up and attack her at any moment.

"You poor thing…" she said low, placing a hand on his face.

The big engine opened his eyes, looking at her in fear and pain, trying to get back up on his wheels, but had to give up. He breathed out heavy, like he was giving up.

"Shh… don't use all your strength." She said, embracing him as good as one could embrace 50 tons of steel, stroking her hands over his face to calm and soothe him.

The diesel shut his eyes again, giving up on everything. His engine rattled sickly, black smoke emerged from his chassis, but she wasn't able to see where it came from, it oozed out everywhere.

"I'm so sorry, Arry…" she whispered against his face. "I wish there was anything I could do to take away your pain."

The hazard-striped shunter peeked up at her again in a pained scowl, a low whimper escaped him, like a dog that had been beaten.

"Shh… lay still."

Mr. Conductor had approached, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You want to stay here with him? We'll go get a flatbed and a crane. We'll be back as fast as we can."

Lily nodded sadly, still hugging the dying engine. "Yes, I just can't leave an engine alone like this. If he dies, he shouldn't have to die alone…"

Mr. Conductor nodded in agreement, patting Arry lightly not to cause him more pain. "This is my faulth. I am so sorry, big boy."

The diesel swallowed hard, gritting his teeth. Lily felt tears streaming down her cheeks. She hadn't really known this engine well, but she loved all the engines on Sodor. In her heart they were all equal, no matter if they were steamies or diesels.

She took a step back, taking a look at the damage, trying to figure out if the shunter was beyond repair or if there was any hope for him at all. It looked really bad, she thought and sobbed.

Then she spotted something strange. Cautiously, she took a few steps towards her new discovery. She frowned, so this was why the diesel was afraid of humans?!

"Those bastards!" she cursed angry, placing a hand on Arry's rear bufferbeam, studying the object she had found. "I swear to God, I'll kill those who put you through this! I bet your brother is equipped with the same… torture-equipment, huh?! Oh, I'm so mad right now…."

The diesel weakly lifted his front, trying to look back at her, so she ran back to his front, making him lay down again.

"Shh… it will be alright. I'm not mad at you… not at all! But if I ever see your driver again… he's in a heap of trouble!" Lily sobbed, stroking her hands over his stubble. His face was warm and feverish, she started to worry he was getting worse. "Hang in there, big guy. They'll be back with a flatbed soon. And even if Sir Topham Hatt will be angry at us for releasing you and Diesel 10, I am sure he will be even more cross when he finds out what your driver has done to you…"

Arry one again struggled to get up, Lily had to move out of the way so his movements didn't harm her. He was huge compared to her.

"Easy… lay still. I promise I'll have that thing removed. But I can't just tear it off, it will hurt more. I need tools…" Lily whispered as he calmed down again, leaning her face against his.

He jerked his front up, trying to lick the open wound on his side, but couldn't react it as he couldn't bend much. After a few tries, he laid down, letting Lily pet him.

"It's itchy, huh?" she whispered with her eyes closed, feeling his warm skin under her hand. "I'm sorry, but I can't help you with that. If you scratch it, it won't heal."

The diesel just breathed out heavy, like a snort, staring into the empty air. He looked like he was just waiting to die. And maybe that was going to happen, Lily thought sad, though she hoped he could be saved.

She lit up as she heard Lady's whistle and running footsteps. They were back!

Arry got worked up again, waving his wheels in an attempt to stand up, it looked weird as his siderods were gone. He reminded Lily of a fallen horse, who flailed its legs to get back on its hooves.

"Calm down, Arry. They're here to help you." She said calm.

Mr. Conductor fastened some chains and ropes to the shunter, trying to avoid hurting him. The diesel stared wide eyed around as he could feel something going on, but not see anything. He was scared. Lily felt sorry for him.

"Don't be scared, buddy." Mr. Conductor said calm, placing a hand on his side as the crane started lifting.

"I'm afraid this won't end well for him, Mr. Conductor." Lily said low. "He's feverish…"

"Let's not think the worst." The older man muttered. "Let's just hope for the best."

"I also made a rather disturbing discovery…" Lily signaled to the crane to stop as Arry was hanging right over them. "Look."

She pointed at Arry's undercarriage. Mr. Conductor gasped.

"That's pure evil!" he growled, crouching as if the device had been used on him, not Arry. "I can only imagine how that must feel… poor, diesel!"

"It explains why he's afraid of humans…" Lily stated, allowing the crane to proceed.

Soon, the wounded diesel was loaded and secured on the flatbed. He looked around with panic in his eyes, whimpering in pain. Lily jumped up on the flatbed, hugging him.

"Nothing to be afraid of, big boy. We're taking you home to be repaired. I hope…" She didn't say the last statement out loud, but added it in her thoughts. "I'll be in your cab all the time… you're not alone."

With those words, she climbed into his mangled cab, sitting down on the floor. She felt a tremble as the train started moving. Lady pulled with all her strength.

Mr. Conductor peeked out of her cab, looking back at Arry. Lily was inside him, but it would be alright, they were taking it easy.

Patch sat on the floor, looking thoughtful. He deeply regretted all the trouble he had caused, trying to come up with a plan to lure Diesel 10 back into his shed.

They huffed and puffed along, slowly, getting closer to the dieselworks, wheelturn by wheelturn.

Suddenly Lady peeped in terror, jerking to a stop as two shadows leaped out from the bushes, crashing into each other right in front of her. She backed away, but the weight of the flatbed and Arry prevented her from going back up the hill.

"What's going on…" the two humans looked out.

Two diesels were fighting on the track in front of them. They didn't seem to notice anything around them, being hellbent on killing each other.

"Oh no…" the two guys muttered in unison.

The two diesels were Arry's twin, Bert, and a big hydraulic sentinel diesel. He was slategrey with orange and cream linings, carrying the logo of Vicarstown dieselworks on his side.

"Is that… Den?!" Patch gasped. "But… how?! And why…?! And how did the other iron-diesel get out?!"

"I don't know more than you do…" Mr. Conductor said, worried. They couldn't go back as Lady wasn't strong enough to push the flatbed up the hill, and the track in front of them was a battlefield…

Both of the aggressive diesels had dropped their siderods, moving free across the tracks, jumping at each other with bared teeth.

Bert leaped forward, crashing into Den, derailing him for one moment. The sentinel diesel quickly got back on his wheels, jumping back at him.

Then both of them stopped, sniffing into the air. Mr. Conductor felt his heart skip a beat as they laid their eyes on Lady.

"Oh no, you don't…" he hissed, forcing Lady forward at full steam, taking advantage of the weight of the flatbed and Arry to gather up speed as they raced down the hill.

The two rival diesels looked puzzled for a while as the female engine fled past them, escaping. Then they ran after them, intent on hunting her down.

Lily clung to a handrail, biting her nails. This was going from bad to worse!

Lady wasn't fast, but at least the weight of Arry and the flatbed pushed her downhill, keeping the two diesels behind them at a safe distance.

"What are we going to do when we're at the bottom of the hill?" Patch whimpered.

"I don't know…" Mr. Conductor grit his teeth, feeling his heart beat painfully hard. He was scared, he had to admit that to himself. Scared to death.

"If we drop off the flatbed while we're still going at full speed… will that help?" Patch suggested. "I can climb to the back and uncouple us…"

"Lily is inside Arry, you nitwit! And we're not leaving her behind!"

"I forgot." Patch almost cringed. What if he had uncoupled them… what would have happened to Lily then? He didn't dare to think of it.

Right then, Den started to fall behind, he roared frustrated as the rest of the engines raced away from him.

"Ha! He ran out of fuel!" Patch cheered.

"But we still have one fully functional and rather mean-spirited diesel chasing us…"

"How do we know for sure that he is chasing Lady? What if he is trying to protect his brother? Maybe he thinks we're going to harm him…?" Patch said, staring back at the aggressive diesel following them.

"Hmm… you might be right. But do we dare to stop to find out?"

Patch looked back at the ironworks diesel. "No."

They thundered through the tunnel, seeing the dieselworks up ahead. Looking at each other, not sure what would meet them there. Seemingly, more diesels had been released, and it started to come clear to them that not all of them were neutered. Four of them obviously weren't.

"Ok… here is sort of a plan…" Mr. Conductor started. "We'll lock Lady up in Diesel 10's shed temporarily, so we can capture all the other diesels without having to worry about her running off to mate with anyone… Arry is disabled, so we don't have to worry about him. But what to do with his twin… that's the question…"

"I we only could have lured him on to the lift… if we lift him up, he won't be able to get anywhere!" Patch said, staring back as they thundered into the yard.

"Good idea, but how do we lure him there? You saw how obedient and easily controlled his brother were…" Mr. Conductor muttered sarcastic. "I doubt this one will be any more docile…"

"Could Lady or Arry be used as bait?"

"What a horrible suggestion! What if he attacks them?"

"Why would he attack his own brother?"

"Hmm… but what if he is really after Lady?"

"I don't think we have any other options than just take a chance…"

They didn't get more time to ponder over it as Lady came to an abrupt stop as she slammed right into the safety buffers inside the workshop. A mechanic looked down from the ledge, gasping as he saw Bert running straight for them. He reached for a controller hanging on the wall beside the sheds, pushing a button.

Bert jumped and screeched to a stop with a pained yelp, turning from a raging killing machine to a whimpering puppy in less than a second. He covered like he expected more pain from the human on the ledge, staring wide-eyed at him.

Mr. Conductor was torn. He remembered the device they had found on Arry, knowing how much pain that must cause the engines. And he despised cruelty against engines. At the same time… it had probably saved their lives and was probably something that could be used to get Bert on to the lift.

The mechanic pushed the button again, making Bert jump backwards, whimpering in pain. The hazard-striped shunter scowled at the man with fear and hate in his eyes. The button was pushed again, this time totally uncalled for. The diesel yelped, slumping even lower to display his submission.

Mr. Conductor jumped out of Lady's cab, climbing a ladder to get up on the ledge. He couldn't use the elevating turntable as half of the flatbed was sticking out.

"This torture ends now!" he shouted, leaping forward, planting a fist in the mechanic's face. Then he grabbed the controller, throwing it on the floor and stomping it to pieces. He didn't know how he was going to control Bert after this, but he was to angered to think clear.

He picked up the remains of the controller, climbing back down. Both Arry and Bert were keeping a close eye on him now, both engines having their eyes widened in fear. Maybe he could still keep Bert at bay, even if the controller was broken…

He walked up to the trembling shunter, climbing into his cab.

"Ok, you know what you got to do… or I will push the button!" he threatened, feeling a bitter taste in his mouth by threatening to hurt an engine, even if it wasn't true.

The hazard-striped diesel obeyed, moving into the lift, standing still until he was hoisted up.

Mr. Conductor took quick peek underneath him. His assumptions were confirmed. Bert was equipped with the same device as his brother.

"This… makes me so mad!" he growled to himself, signaling to Lily to uncouple Lady from the flatbed so she could take the elevating turntable up one level.

He looked at the other two sheds. Bert's shed doors were broken down, by force from inside the shed. Mr. Conductor shuddered. "Maybe Topham should reinforce these sheds more when he is going to replace those doors…"

"Or maybe he should just have them gelded, like the rest." Patch muttered as he jumped out of Lady's cab. Lily drove Lady into Diesel 10's shed, walking back outside, ignoring the frustrated whimpers of the tiny steam engine as the doors closed.

"It's for your own good, Lady." She muttered, more to herself than to the engine.

Mr. Conductor walked over to a shelf, where more controllers were placed. He picked them up, reading the names labelled. "Well, well… seems like the diesel drivers have quite a lot to answer for… Arry, Den, BoCo, Splatter, Dodge…"

"So the only real geldings here are Dart, Paxton, Dennis, Sidney, Diesel and Norman?" Lily pondered, searching for a suitable wrench in a tool-box. She wanted to remove the parts from the iron-twins.

"Seems like it… I need to call Topham. I know he'll get mad, but we have no choice. We won't be able to capture all these diesels alone…" Mr. Conductor walked over to a phone hanging on the wall.

"What are those controllers for?" Patch wondered, he hadn't seen the same as the other two.

"I'll show you." Lily said, walking over to Bert. The diesel looked down at her with a worried look as she walked underneath his exposed undersite. She pointed at a device that has been fixated to the engine's private parts. "You see this, Patch?"

"Uhu?" Patch was more fascinated by the diesel's privates than the device. "I had no idea engines had so many similarities to horses… look, Lily. They have sheats, just like horses, so they can uhh… pull it in when it's not in use."

"Patch! Concentrate!" Lily scolded, grabbing his face, forcing him to look at the device mounted on Bert's balls.

"Mm…" Patch said, now looking at it.

"This little bugger sends out a shock of God knows how many volts… directly into the…" Lily wasn't able to finish the sentence before Patch whimpered, covering his crotch with his hands, crouching.

"It hurts only to think about it!" he said, feeling pain on the engines behalf. "No wonder they're obedient!"

"Exactly. But it ends now!" Lily started to loosen the bolts holding it in place. Bert flailed his wheels in panic, obviously misunderstanding her intentions.

"Shh, buddy! I am removing this evil device… hold still!" Lily said, keeping working.

"Poor guy… he must be scared out of his wits. I guess you have to be a boy to understand, but take it easy while you're removing that thing, Lily…" Patch said, staring up at the struggling engine. The diesel just didn't want to calm down. He was convinced Lily was up to no good.

"Easy, she's not going to hurt you." Patch shushed the diesel. "In fact, nobody is going to hurt you anymore!"

Lily breathed out as she finally stood with the tazer-like device in her hands. "There! Let's remove the one on Arry while we're at it."

Patch looked over the ledge, down at the badly mutilated diesel.

"Is there any point? He'll probably die anyway…" he whispered.

"Well, at least he's going to die free from this evil thingy!" Lily said determined, jumping down from the ledge, on to the flatbed. Then she crawled underneat Arry, as they couldn't lift him. The diesel stood like frozen, his eyes widened in terror as she touched his privates. Patch jumped down, stroking his sides to calm him down. If the diesel panicked, he would crush Lily.

"It will be ok, big guy… she's removing that thing that hurts you." Patch said low and calm, stroking the nervous engine. "Stand still, or she'll be squashed…"

The diesel breathed out, seemingly calmer, but his eyes were still wide open.

Lily crawled out, throwing the tazer away like garbage. Then she hugged the diesel.

"Good boy!" she praised, patting him.

Right then, they heard a car approached, stopping outside.

Sir Topham Hatt jumped out of the car, walking with long, aggressive steps into the workshop.

"Explain to me… why are my diesels out of control and all over the island? Why is every female engine on this island derailed and smiling goofily when I question them what happened?! And what on earth is going on in here?!"

The Fat Controller stared at Arry, at the uncouncious mechanic hanging over the ledge, at Bert on the hoist, at Mr. Conductor and at Lily and Patch who were hugging the diesel on the flatbed.

The silence was long and awkward…

.

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To be continued!


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: I do not own any of the characters, they all belong to HIT.

In this story, the trains are a bit more animal-like in their behavior. I also imagine them as a little more flexible and softer than real life machines. Sort of bio-mechanic.

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Chapter 5

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Sir Topham Hatt took some carefully calculated steps back and forth, nailing Mr. Conductor with his stare.

"You called me here! Oh… what in the…" he suddenly saw how badly injured Arry was. He walked over, studying the damage with horror. "Is he…?"

"No." Lily sobbed, still hugging the diesel.

"Not yet." Patch added, getting a glare from Lily.

"But… what… why?!" Sir Topham struggled to climb on to the flatbed, but finally made it. He sat down on Arry's buffer-beam, stroking his hand over his face, using his handkerchief to wipe some blood and oil off him. "My poor boy…"

Mr. Conductor came down and sat down on the flatbed, sighing. He was manning up to tell everything, from the beginning.

Patch just decided to get it over with. "I opened Diesel 10's shed and he escaped…"

Topham grit his teeth. "He's the only stallion left on this island, everyone else are geldings! And he is extremely dangerous and uncontrollable during mating season… why did you release him?!"

Patch looked down, blushing. "I was curious… and I felt sorry for him being locked up like that… I… was an idiot. I never imagined him to run off like that."

Sir Topham groaned, pressing two fingers against his nosebridge. He tried hard not to shout the boy's ears off, there was so much he wanted to say, but tried to act like a reasonable adult.

"That explains why my female engines are scattered around and seemingly… never mind. Let's just say I know what Diesel 10 has done to them…"

"Yeah… about that…" Mr. Conductor cleared his throat.

"Umm… we were going to save Lady… she also ran away… probably to find a mate. And we needed to find her before Diesel 10, so we needed an engine to be able to travel faster…" Lily started, getting a soft nudge from Arry's buffer. She smiled briefly at him, it was the first sign of friendliness she had seen in him until now. She patted his side.

"And well… I released Arry, hoping we could use him, but…" Mr. Conductor bit his lip.

Topham frowned. "And…? He's a useful engine… or was…" he choked out, remembering the state of the diesel he was caressing.

"Yeah… but the thing is, he was totally uncontrollable. It turns out… he is not a gelding."

"What? That's nonsense! Every one of the drivers signed a contract when they had neutered their engines! I have them all at my office!" Topham shouted, making Arry cover like he expected punishment. It made the chubby man regret raising his voice, he stroked the engine's sidepanel, calming him down. "I wasn't shouting at you, my friend…"

"Well… you need to have a serious talk to them. Not everyone was honest when they signed that paper." Mr. Conductor said, crossing his arms.

"And how do I know you're telling the truth?" Topham wondered, still not sure about it all. "All the diesels have behaved well since they were neutered, even Arry and he used to be a wild one…"

"All you have to do it take a look underneath him and check if his ballsack still has something in it… squeeze it a bit, you should feel the testicles inside."

Lily and Patch couldn't help but chuckle, being teenagers and all.

Topham crinkled his nose, not overly willing to examine the balls of an engine. But he stood up and walked back to Arry's rear, but just as he was about to crawl under him, the diesel laid down completely, spreading his wheels so his undercarriage rested on the flatbed. The diesel bared his teeth, snarling.

"Ok… there is a reason why he is not willing to let anyone touch him there… but we'll tell you that later. I suggest you go check Bert instead, he can't move on that lift." Lily said with a smirk.

The Fat Controller blushed deeply red as he walked up to the other iron-twin, looking away as he placed a hand on the male engine's package, massaging it lightly to feel the two stones inside. Bert growled and squirmed helpless on the lift.

Sir Topham was red as a tomato as he wept his hand on a towel, nodding slightly to Mr. Conductor.

"I need to have a chat with my employees, it seems…" he coughed, utterly embarrassed over what he just had done. "Sorry, Bert. I bet it felt just as awkward to you as it did to me…"

The diesel had calmed down as soon as the man underneath him had walked away, he was just eyeing the humans on the floor suspiciously.

Lily chuckled. "Poor guy… he probably wonders why everyone is fiddling with his privates today…"

Patch whispered. "Either he is fed up… or he enjoyed it…"

Lily rolled her eyes over Patch immature sense of humor. Arry rubbed his nose against her shoulder, she turned to him with a smile. "Well, are you turning into such a cuddly engine, huh? Aww…"

She rubbed her nose against his, returning his friendly gesture. The horses back home also used to rub their muzzle against her shoulder or arm, or even push her over. The engines sure had many similarities to the equines. The diesel breathed warm against her hair when she turned back to look at the others. Just like a horse, she thought, feeling warm and fuzzy inside. Maybe the engine had taken a liking in her because she had taken away the tazer? Whatever the reason, it warmed her heart. At least there was one human he trusted in this world.

"But if they aren't gelded… how have they been kept under control? I haven't seen a sign of misbehavior in them… not even during mating season." Sir Topham said confused, angered and sad at the same time.

"You are not going to like this…" Mr. Conductor said and showed him the shocking-device and the controllers. "And it turns out that there are many diesels who are not neutered… just look at the names on the remaining controllers… but first, let me tell you how it works. This little thing is attached to the engine's private parts… and a little push on this button makes it send a strong electric shock. You can imagine the pain it causes… that is why your male engines behave so well! They're afraid! I even saw someone shocking Bert when he already was calm… totally uncalled for! Who knows if they also do it for fun, just to torture the poor engines?!"

Sir Topham Hatt held a hand over his mouth, like he was getting sick. He sat down on the floor, tears filled up his eyes. He wasn't able to say a word; he was in utter shock over what he had just learned.

"Oh God…" he choked out, breathing heavy, trying to pull himself together.

Mr. Conductor put a hand on his shoulder, motioning against the remaining controllers. "What do you want me to do with these? I can see by your reaction that you don't approve of the use…"

"Burn them! Crush them!" Topham sobbed, hiding his face in his hands. "Destroy them! No engine deserves such treatment!"

"I figured so…" Mr. Conductor found a hammer, smashing them all to bits before throwing them into a trash can.

"I'm glad you've already punched that guy… or I would…" Topham looked at the unconscious mechanic on the floor.

"How are you going to keep the male diesels under control when you're not using such measures… are you going to neuter them?"

"No… I… I'll think of something. I am not going to allow them being tortured. I rather lock them all up during mating season than cause them any pain!" the cubby man stood up again, going back to Arry, hugging the hazard-striped shunter, hiding his face against his sidepanels. His heart bled for Arry and the other diesels who had been equipped with the tazer, he was sorry that he hadn't noticed, that he hadn't checked if every engine actually had been gelded instead of just believing what the drivers said.

"Ok…" he sniffled, wiping his face with his tie, now that he had used all his handkerchiefs. "How did Arry end up like this? You said you released him and couldn't control him… but this is… is…"

He waved a hand towards the damaged diesel to underline how bad he thought it was.

"Well, he found Lady eventually and… well… uhh…" Lily flushed red by the memory.

"He had his way with her." Patch finished, also blushing.

"Then Diesel 10 came along and they ended up fighting and really caused each other some damage… we had to run for cover. And after he had knocked out Arry, Diesel 10 mated with Lady and ran off… probably to find another female…" Mr. Conductor added, looking down at his shoes.

"We went to get a flatbed and a crane to get Arry back here… and that was when we discovered that there were more diesels on the run, it seems like they just decided to break out. You might want to reinforce the shed doors if you're not going to neuter them…"

"Great… just great…" Topham muttered to himself. "Arry and Bert are here and under control, but that means I still have Den, BoCo, Splatter, Dodge AND Diesel 10 on a rampage around the island, sniffing out every female on the railway… there is going to be a lot of offspring this year…"

"Well, Den is out of fuel, so he is harmless at the moment. He's on a track near our cabin." Patch said, trying to make it less catastrophic.

"Still there are four horny and sexually frustrated diesels on the loose that need to be caught!" Lily snapped.

"We need a plan…" Mr. Conductor said, looking at Sir Topham Hatt.

"I am not able to think of anything, but I allow you to use everything on my railway to catch them. Engines, material, trucks, whatever you need… take it! Just bring my diesels back safely…"

"Yes, sir."

"I'll stay here with Arry. I just can't leave one of my engines like this… and I'll have some workers to repair the sheds, reinforce them and…"

"What will you do to Arry?" Lily swallowed hard. "The most reasonable would be to scrap him… are you going to put him down?"

Topham jumped. "No! Not without trying to save him… I just can't bring myself to put him down without giving him a chance… Mr. Conductor! Can you bring me Dart and his driver? I need them to tend to Arry. But if they say there is no hope for him… I will have to let him go."

He teared up, hugging the iron-diesel. The shunter pushed him with his buffer, nudging him as if he sensed his sadness.

Lily filled a bucket of water and found a towel, placing it on the flatbed, but before she had climbed back up and picked up the towel Sir Topham had taken it, carefully wiping the diesel's face.

"Let's go then." Patch said, pulling her arm.

"Yes…" Lily looked at Arry one last time, wanting to stay, but he was in good hands now. His owner wouldn't leave him until it was over… one way or the other.

"Let's go find a diesel we can use…" Mr. Conductor said, opening the remaining shed doors. The gelded diesels stared at them, eager to be taken out for a drive.

"Looks like we have a lot of Class 08's to choose from…" Patch muttered.

"Mm… Those two are out of the question…" Mr. Conductor pointed at Dennis and Derek. The two were known for either being lazy or break down, he wanted an engine to rely on.

"It doesn't matter, let's just take Salty and get going!" Lily climbed into Salty's cab as he was the engine standing closest to them.

"Good choice…" Mr. Conductor said. "He's a good engine."

"I just picked him because he was the nearest one…" Lily replied dry. "But he is a good engine…"

She petted Salty to assure him that she meant it.

"Look, guys! There is BoCo!" Patch shouted pointing at a green, long diesel sneaking back into the sheds. "He's returning on his own…"

"Quick! Lock him up! Lock him up!" Lily yelled, jumping out of the cab, darting towards the shed doors, slamming them shut behind BoCo. Patch quickly locked it, giving Lily a high five.

"Hey, you!" Mr. Conductor waved at Dart's driver who were walking towards the sheds to take Dart over to the workshop. The driver walked over.

"Can you siphon that diesel's fuel so he can't run anywhere?" Mr. Conductor asked, though it was more an order than a question.

"On it!" Dart's driver said, running back to the main shed to find the stuff he needed for it. He soon returned, running into BoCo's shed. They could hear the big diesel protest loudly, but he soon calmed down as the man talked friendly to him while siphoning his fueltank.

Lily and Patch climbed back into Salty's cab, nodding to Mr. Conductor.

"Alright, Lily and Patch… let's go. We still have three more diesels to bring back!"

.

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To be continued!


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: I do not own any of the characters, they all belong to HIT.

In this story, the trains are a bit more animal-like in their behavior. I also imagine them as a little more flexible and softer than real life machines. Sort of bio-mechanic.

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Chapter 6

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The trio was silent as they rolled out of the canyon where the dieselworks were located, they didn't really have any plan. But they hoped they would be able to sneak upon some of the diesels and siphon their fuel… or chase them around until they run dry.

"We can go get Den later, he's harmless now. Let's focus on the others." Patch said, for once saying something reasonable.

"Agreed." The other two replied.

Lily and Patch sat down on the floor, letting Mr. Conductor drive.

"Ironic that the three diesels we're chasing is the same ones who were chasing Lady around a couple of years ago…" Patch muttered. "Diesel 10 and Splodge."

"Patch… be respectful. They're two engines with two individual names." Lily sighed, she had actually liked the two bumbling shunters, they tried so hard to be menacing and evil, but ended up looking cute instead. Unlike Arry and Bert, who she had never liked much, who were everything an engine shouldn't be; bad-tempered, mean-spirited, aggressive… but they, or at least Arry, had surprised her by being calm and sweet after she had befriended him. Maybe they just needed to be tamed properly?

"Mr. Conductor? Is there anyone on Sodor who tame the engines? I mean… like some of the diesels who are rather ill-tempered. Has anyone tried to train them and tame them so they become more obedient and friendly?" Lily asked suddenly.

"I don't think so…" the adult man said without taking his eyes off the rails. "Some engines are just born evil and cannot be tamed. Then again, some are born docile and friendly, like BoCo… and Salty here."

"So nobody had even bothered trying to tame them?" Lily wondered. "They just judge them and say it is impossible…? Like Arry… everyone thinks he is mean-spirited and evil, but look what happened when I was nice to him. He turned out to be rather friendly, at least towards me… maybe he and the other so-called wild ones can be tamed and trained?"

"Hmm… you're having some good ideas, Lily." Mr. Conductor smiled down at her. "The problem is that there is nobody who really knows how to train engines…"

"I didn't either… but it turned out to be very similar to taming horses. It takes a lot of patience and a firm hand, and a load of love and care. They can't be trained to be trustful and friendly if beaten and abused… it might turn them obedient, but then they will turn against you when they get a chance." Lily pondered on, still thinking of how the iron-diesel had changed by her attitude towards him.

"Maybe you should ask Topham if he would hire you as a diesel-trainer." Patch joked, finding the whole idea ridiculous.

"Yeah, maybe…" Lily said thoughtful. Then another thing came to her mind. "Is there any engine… uhh… veterinarian on Sodor? I mean… they're half machine and half animal or something… They have mechanics and engineers to ensure that their machinery works, but who will treat them if they are sick or wounded? I saw Diesel 10 and Arry after the fight… they didn't only leak oil, they also bled… pure, red blood. Who takes care of the living and breathing part of them?"

"I don't think there is any… I think they're usually left to heal on their own if they don't get so sick, they die of it. I don't think anyone knows how to treat them, except minor scratches and wounds that can be treated by putting on a band-aid…" Mr. Conductor scratched his chin.

"So when the engines were neutered, there was nobody who really knew what they were doing?!" Lily said, shocked.

"Not really. It was a vet who did it, but he was more used to cattle and horses… it was his first time neutering engines. But like you said, they have a lot of similarities to horses, so…"

"But still…!" Lily shook her head. "Maybe this is my call in life? Maybe I should become Sodor's first engine-veterinarian… I need to study their anatomy, but I am sure there are some engines who don't mind me checking them."

"And how will you learn about their inner anatomy?" Patch said and looked at her with a crinkled nose. "Dissect them?!"

"I don't look forward to that part, but I guess I will have to practice on scrapped engines…" Lily said low, her mind tumbled with the idea. It would be a useful job, and it would be better for the welfare of the engines.

"Then you might have a fresh one to dissect soon…" Patch muttered.

"Don't talk about Arry like that! He's not going to die!" Lily choked out. She had started to care for the hazard-striped shunter, he had melted her heart when he had rubbed his nose against her shoulder. The trust he had displayed towards her had won her over.

"But he is, Lily… wake up and face the truth."

Lily couldn't help herself, she flung out her arm, hitting Patch straight in the eye.

"Ouch! Lily!" he winced, holding a hand over his eye. "Ok, ok, I'll pretend like Arry is going to be fine…"

"He will!" Lily sobbed, wiping away tears. She didn't like the thoughts of engines dying.

"Sure… sure…" Patch mumbled to himself, rolling his eyes when she was looking another way.

"I think I'll specialize in diesels if I am going to be a vet… If you had asked me a few days ago, I would have said steamies… I never cared for other engines than steamies, but I have to admit the diesels have managed to take a huge place in my heart…" she pondered on.

"Pff… you're just saying that because the only stallions left are diesels… and you want to touch their balls." Patch chuckled. "Like Sir Topham did… he sure looked like he wanted to die when he was squeezing Bert's junk."

"You're a jerk, Patch. If I am going to touch them there it is only for study or because they need medical help." Lily said, unamused.

"If they're like horses, are you going to assist the breeding and such too? I mean, like with horses… they sometimes need help to put their uhh… thing into the right hole…" Patch laughed uncontrollable now.

"It looked like they're capable of finding the right spot on their own…" Lily said, grinning awkward by remembering what they had witnessed earlier that night.

"And if railways other places want to get their females covered by one of Sodor's engines… are you going to ha ha ha… "milk" them or have them hump a phantom-female, like stud horses do, and send a vial in the mail?" Patch laughed, his face was completely red by the embarrassment of the talk and laughter.

"Oh dear God… I can never get rid of these mental images, Patch!" Lily couldn't help but laugh, imagining the whole thing. "No, I am NOT going to… to make a male engine ejaculate!"

"Just use your hands and convince yourself it is for science. It's a job. If it gets too freaky, just imagine your boyfriend and pretend it is him… and do you best. And you might need to use both hands… I saw how huge their package is. I mean, they're quite big overall, so their private parts match the rest of their body."

"Eww… Patch! I don't even have a boyfriend and I have never put my hands on anyone's balls!" Lily chortled, blushing.

"Oh yes, you have! Twice! Who crawled underneath both Arry and Bert to fiddle with their privates…?" Patch smirked dirty.

"That was just to remove those tazers! I… I didn't even think a dirty thought at all! Seriously, Patch… they're engines! Would you enjoy touching the balls of a horse? It's just the same, you know…" Lily cringed.

"So you didn't even notice how it felt... if the skin was soft, warm…"

"No! Ok… it was soft and warm, but I didn't… I just removed those tazers, ok?" Lily was not finding the joking amusing anymore. The thought disgusted her.

"What if the diesels enjoyed it? Maybe they were secretly hoping your hands would release their pressure…"

"Lily… Patch… can you two please stop talking about masturbating the diesels, please. It's getting rather creepy and disgusting." Mr. Conductor muttered, keeping his eyes fixed on the rails.

"Thank you, Mr. Conductor!" Lily said, relieved that the awkward conversation came to an end. She was still interested in becoming a veterinarian for the engines, but she was only interested in the medical aspects. If she was going to touch an engine's privates it was only for study or medical purposes. Everything else disgusted her.

The more she thought about it, the stronger the call grew. Someone had to be the first to become an expert on engine anatomy and how to treat diseases and wounds. That way less engines would be scrapped.

She stood up, peeking out of the cab, closing her eyes against the wind. It was starting to get warmer, and lighter as a new day were coming. She was tired after little sleep and the exhaustion from everything they had been through that night. She had only managed to get a few hours of sleep before all hell broke loose.

She squinted her eyes against the morning sun, it was going to be a nice day at least, even if the railway was closed due to all the diesels on the run. Sir Topham Hatt had ordered everything to stop until the diesels were under control, to prevent accidents.

"Over there!" Lily suddenly shouted as she caught a glimpse of a shunter quickly turning to a sidetrack, disappearing in between the leafy trees. She wasn't sure which diesel it was, only that it wasn't Diesel 10. She had only caught a short glimpse of him.

"I saw him." Mr. Controller mumbled and ordered Salty to follow the other engine.

"I think it's Dodge…" she said, but wasn't sure. Splatter and Dodge looked very much alike. "He's the grey and green one, right?"

"I think so…"

Patch also stood up, looking outside. "This track is leading to the quarry?"

"Yeah, it's a sidetrack that isn't used much, but it leads to the quarry, yes." Mr. Conductor replied, pushing Salty to go faster. The dockside diesel obeyed. "Wow, how wonderful to drive an engine that actually listens to my commands!"

The two teenagers chuckled, remembering the wild ride in Arry earlier that night. Now that they no longer stood in the middle of the situation, they were able to laugh of it. Even what happened to Lady, though Burnett would be cross. But regrets had never made anything undone, so they just had to deal with the consequences as they came.

Lily was a bit excited over it too… getting an offspring from Lady. If Burnett didn't want the baby, she would ask to get it so she could raise it and train it herself. It would also be great for her planned studies of engines.

"There he is!" Patch shouted, pointing at the shunter who had slowed down a lot. The diesel seemed to have lost track of whatever he was hunting down, he was going so slow he almost stood still, sniffing the tracks with frustrated whimpers.

"He has probably followed the scent of Mavis…" Patch whispered.

"Obviously he has lost track of her now… maybe we're able to sneak up on him?" Mr. Conductor whispered back.

"Yeah… and jump on him and wrestle him or what? It's 50 tons of steel, guys… we can't win." Lily said, trying to come up with something better. "Hey! Call the manager at the quarry and make him block all the tracks out of the quarry. Then we can trap Dodge and siphon his fuel."

"Good idea!" Mr. Conductor grinned, flipping up his cellphone to call.

"We've got you now, Dodge…" Patch chuckled as they approached him slowly.

Lily held Salty back a bit, it wouldn't be smart to startle the other diesel before the quarry manager had blocked the tracks.

Mr. Conductor ended the call, smiling to Lily and nodding.

"Go after him, Salty!"

The dockside diesel leaped forward, the noise made Dodge tense up for a second before he darted forward in a panicked run towards the quarry.

"Ha ha, yes… run you little bastard! We're coming to get you!" Patch snickered, getting ready to jump out with the jerry cans and the rubber hose. Lily grabbed some more cans and got ready too.

Soon they had Dodge cornered. He had tried to hide in a mine entrance, but turned completely rabid when Salty buffered up behind him. The track in front of him was blocked by Toby and a long train of trucks. The tunnel was too narrow for the diesel to turn around, even if he dropped his siderods.

"Yes!" they jumped out of Salty, running over to the raging grey and green diesel, quickly starting to drain his fueltank. Lily chuckled and stroked his side.

"You've been a bad boy, Dodge… shame on you for running away like that!" she talked to him in a low and calm voice. "But now, we're going home. And then we're going to catch your brother and Diesel 10…"

"We'll just let someone else shunt him to the dieselworks, we don't have any time to lose." Mr. Conductor said as they put the filled jerry cans with Dodge's fuel into one of Toby's trucks.

"Damn we're good! Now we only have two diesels left to catch!" Patch cheered gleefully as they could climb back into Salty's cab. The quarry manager opened a line for them and gave them some more jerry cans. They passed Mavis on their way out of the quarry, she was standing on a side track with a cheeky and satisfied grin, having dents all over her cab.

"Ok, so Mavis is among the females who will have offspring this year…" Mr. Conductor stated. "If we're lucky, the male she encountered won't be too far away…"

Lily swallowed hard as she noticed the claw marks on the black quarry diesel. This would be the worst of them all… even though his claw was damaged, it would still be dangerous…

"It's Diesel 10…" she shuddered. "He'll probably be the most difficult to catch…"

"I'm afraid so…" Mr. Conductor mumbled, making Salty go faster.

"Keep an eye out."

Lily and Patch peeked out of the cab, looking for the next male diesel to catch.

"Oh, I hope we run into Splatter first…" Patch whimpered.

"Sure… save the worst for last." Lily muttered.

"Diesel 10 has been on the run longer than the others… maybe he'll run dry soon? Then he'll be fairly easy to hook…"

"Nothing is easy with Diesel 10, Patch. Fueled or not…" Lily said low.

"Shh, you two… I hear something…" Mr. Conductor said, silencing them.

They all peeked out, listening carefully.

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To be continued!

A/N: I've received your reviews, but for some reason they do not show up on the page. But I want to thank you for all your kind words!


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: I do not own any of the characters, they all belong to HIT.

In this story, the trains are a bit more animal-like in their behavior. I also imagine them as a little more flexible and softer than real life machines. Sort of bio-mechanic.

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Chapter 7

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Lily held her breath, anxious to find out which of the diesels they had run into.

Two engines were whimpering, though it didn't sound like they were in pain. The three humans looked at each other, not quite sure what to do. They didn't want to see more of this…

"It would be fairly easy to siphon the fuel while they are busy…" Lily muttered, hating herself for saying so. "They seem rather focused on the act, they will probably not even notice us."

"I hate you, Lily…" Patch choked out. Although he found it very interesting, he didn't want to witness another mating act.

"I know, I know… but it might be our best chance to catch whoever it is. If we let him finish and run away it will be harder." Lily said, looking up at Mr. Conductor.

He nodded, making Salty smoothly sneak forward almost without a sound. They soon found the two mating engines.

"Thank God, it's Splatter." Patch murmured, not wanting to run into the fiercer Diesel 10.

"Eww… he sure lives up to his name." Mr. Conductor crinkled his nose by the mess around the two engines.

"Yep… Bullseye sure wouldn't be a good name for him." Lily said with some black humor in her voice. She preferred not to think of what they were stepping in while they snuck up on the busy diesel. The female engine seemed to be Rosie, and she couldn't help but think of how the offspring would look like. Rosie's lavender color mixed with Splatter's purple would look great on a little tumbling baby engine. If Splatter managed to get some of his liquids inside the female… so far it looked like he had spilled most of it everywhere else. Lily grinned awkward. She was getting far too used to this, being able to look at it without giving it a second thought.

Patch slipped in some of the oily mess around them, falling on his back. He quickly stood back up, looking at his clothes and hands with disgust and dismay.

"Gross!" he whimpered, trying to wipe his hands on a patch of grass beside the tracks.

Lily had to bite her lips to prevent herself from laughing out loud.

Splatter growled frustrated, he was clearly not doing well. Rosie whimpered impatient underneath him, wiggling to titillate him.

"He's not a very good aimer." Lily burst out, giggling muffled.

"Shhh!" Mr. Conductor said, sneaking up on the sexually frustrated shunter with the rubber tube and a jerry can.

Then Rosie cried out, spreading her wheels to lay down on the tracks as Splatter hit his target with a loud, guttural groan. The female engine whimpered in pleasure for every thrust the diesel made, finally getting what she had been waiting for.

Mr. Conductor opened his fuel tank, trying hard to follow his movements so the grey and purple diesel wouldn't notice what he was doing. It wasn't very easy due to the rapid movements.

"Yeez… he's like a virgin teenager… or a bunny…" he mumbled to himself when he finally managed to put the tube into the tank.

"Yup. Arry and Diesel 10 were more skilled sharpshooters… they had no problems hitting their target. And didn't hurry that much either." Lily chuckled.

Mr. Conductor looked at her with an annoyed glare. "Part of your study I presume? Or just a perverted mind speaking?"

"I place my bet on the latter." Patch chortled.

Lily just grinned. The joking was more a way of staying sane through the whole ordeal. And she always became more dirty minded and silly when she was tired. She hadn't got much sleep since they came to Sodor.

"I need another can." Mr. Conductor said as the can was filling up.

Right then Splatter released himself, his airhorn echoing through the landscape. It didn't take him long to get back to his senses and notice that someone was siphoning his tank. With a fierce growl he pushed Rosie off the rails, running off with the rubber tube hanging after him.

"Crap!" Lily rubbed her forehead. "Nothing is going our way…"

"Well, we did manage to catch Dodge and BoCo without much trouble." Mr. Conductor said, staring after the grey and purple shunter. "Let's just follow the trail of diesel he leaves, the rubber hose is still siphoning his tank… and polluting as the diesel is spilled in nature."

Rosie whimpered frustrated from beside the tracks. She whistled loudly to call for the runaway diesel.

"Not a very thoughtful lover, huh? Leaving the girl unsatisfied…" Patch chuckled as he climbed back into Salty's cab. "Let's pull her back onto the rails."

The other two helped getting Rosie back, the lavender engine was still pouting after Splatter left, she had obviously not gotten what she wanted.

"Ok, follow the trail of diesel, Salty!" Mr. Conductor ordered as they all was back in his cab. The red dockside diesel rattled forward following the wet oily track.

"Good boy!" Lily praised, looking out of his cab.

They followed the trail of diesel across the island, down to the docks. Salty perked up as he smelled the fresh seabreeze. Soon they spotted Splatter. The grey and purple shunter was trying his best to hide between two shipping containers, judging from the stain on the tracks; he was soon out of fuel.

"Hey, Cranky!" Mr. Conductor shouted up to the crane. "Can you box him in? Just to make sure he doesn't run away? We'll come back and get him as soon as we have caught the last runaway diesel."

Cranky hooked another container, placing it in front of the two parallel ones. Splatter tried his best to back up, but Cranky quickly put another one behind, boxing the shunter in. The diesel's frustrated roars echoed over the docks.

"Thanks, Cranky!" the trio greeted and started backing Salty out of the area. The dockside diesel whimpered in disappointment, he obviously wanted to stay there by the sea.

"We'll let you got to the sea later, Salty. But first… we have a diesel to catch!"

"Do we have any idea where to look for him?" Patch asked, picking on a stain of rust on a handrail.

"No… we just have to search for him, track by track." Mr. Conductor muttered.

"Umm… Sir Topham said we could use whatever we needed, right?"

"Yes…"

"Why don't we go get Harold? It would be a lot easier to look for Diesel 10 then…" Patch suggested.

"That's the smartest thing I've ever heard you say, Patch!" Lily lit up, smiling to him.

"Not a bad idea." Mr. Conductor said, ordering Salty to go to the search and rescue center.

Lily sat down on the floor as it would take a while to drive there. She put her arms around her knees and rested her head tired against her knees. He thoughts wandered to Lady… and Arry. She had started to care for the diesel despite what he did to Lady. He had turned out to be rather friendly once she showed him some kindness. Could he be trained so he wouldn't be so aggressive and hostile towards humans? Or was the only solution to neuter him?

If he survived… the thought hit her painfully hard. She blinked away the tears that filled up her eyes. If Arry died, then she would still dedicate herself to studying engines and become a vet for them. Maybe she could befriend and tame his twin instead?

But deep inside, she hoped that she would be able to tame them both, not just one of them.

"Don't die, Arry." she whispered against her knees.

When this was over and she got back to the cabin, she was going to find a notebook and write down everything she had learned about engines so far. From their breeding habits to their behavior during mating season. It was clear that the male engines were dangerously aggressive during that time of year, but was the steam engines just as aggressive as the diesels? She needed to find out, but there wasn't any stallions among the steamies… or? She needed to talk to Sir Topham Hatt about this. She was sure that he would support her studies as he was very concerned about his engines welfare.

And later on in her study, she would have to find a scrap engine to dissect… she didn't like the thought, but it would be necessary to learn about their inner anatomy too.

Patch had said that she probably would have a fresh one soon… but she didn't know if she could handle dissecting Arry. Just the thought made her cringe. She recalled his pained face when he was lying on the ground after the fight, his nose nudging her shoulder softly, his warm breath in her hair, his warm skin and rough stubble against her hands… no, she couldn't cut him open, not even for the sake of medicine. But would she be able to do it on any other of the sudrian engines? She knew most of them…

She sighed heavy. Probably not… she would have to find an engine she didn't know… a stranger she wasn't emotionally attached to. It had to be done.

"Uh oh…" Mr. Conductor suddenly muttered, breaking the silence in the cab.

A big, golden figure eyed them from a distance, growling deeply. The damaged claw was lifted, ready to derail anyone who dared to come close enough.

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To be continued!

A/N: I am sorry this is a bit short. I have had a writers block recently, so things aren't running as smooth as usual. I promise I will try to make it up to you guys.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: I do not own any of the characters, they all belong to HIT.

In this story, the trains are a bit more animal-like in their behavior. I also imagine them as a little more flexible and softer than real life machines. Sort of bio-mechanic.

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Chapter 8

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"Any last wishes?" Patch choked out, staring at the fearsome figure in front of them.

Mr. Conductor and Lily didn't say a word, they were both thinking really hard. They needed to find a way to capture the diesel without risking anyone's life.

"OK… if anyone has any good idea, now is the time to tell…" Mr. Conductor said, not taking his eyes off Diesel 10. A blue engine was lying derailed beside him, breathing heavy.

"Who's the other engine?" Lily whispered.

"Not sure… it's too big to be Thomas or Edward." Patch replied. "Gordon or Belle maybe?"

"Doesn't matter." Mr. Conductor stated. "We need to catch this diesel… but how?"

"Well, he hasn't attacked us or tried to run, so my guess is that after running around the island for so long, he is low on fuel…" Lily suggested. "It seems like he is trying to save it by standing still, to keep his generator running, it might make it a little bit easier for us, but… that claw is the problem. Even if it's damaged, he can easily hit anyone who comes close. And he knows that…"

"He's pretty smart for an engine…" Patch said in awe.

"I'm not going to risk Salty ending up like Arry…" Mr. Conductor muttered, looking around for something that could be used to capture the warship.

Diesel 10's hydraulics hissed, they looked up, but the warship hadn't moved. His eyes were still fixed on them, the claw extension was lifted, ready to be flung at anyone who dared to come close. Sparks fell from the broken claw, it was more or less hanging by the cables and looked like it was about to fall off.

"Thanks, Arry… you've made it a little less dangerous at least…" Patch mumbled, taking in the sight.

"I don't want to stand in the way if that claw falls off when he swings that arm at us…" Lily said worried.

"Ok… how are we going to do this?" Mr. Conductor was still trying to think of something.

"The claw is only functioning while his generator is running, right? Or is it a separate system?" Patch wondered.

"I think it's powered by the generator." Mr. Conductor replied.

"Could we somehow soak him in water and short circuit it?"

"Patch, you're a genius sometimes!" Lily lit up, but then slumped low again. "How are we going to get water?"

"There is a big chance that blue engine is Belle, right? I mean… he is after the females, so I don't think he would have shown much interest in Gordon…" Patch said, looking for a way to get to the derailed engine without getting within the range of Diesel 10's arm.

Lily kissed him on the cheek. "You're starting to redeem yourself after the mess you caused!"

Patch blushed. "Uhh.. thanks…"

"Ok, so we need to get to Belle, if that is her… and fire her water cannons at Diesel 10…" Mr. Conductor was starting to form a plan in his mind.

"But… he still has fuel, so if he decides to run, we're screwed. Someone needs to distract him, while another one sneaks over to Belle." Lily added. "If you guys try to catch his attention, I'll sneak over…."

"Be careful, Lily!" Patch said, a bit worried. This wasn't a safe task… so many things could go wrong.

"Let's do it. Lily, sneak out when Diesel 10 is busy with us. And when you get to Belle, remember to aim for his air vents! And don't be bashful with the water!" Mr. Conductor said and jumped out of Salty's cab with Patch hot on track.

The two guys started shouting and flailing their arms, succeeding in getting the warship's attention. Lily silently slid down, giving Salty a soft stroke over his sidepanels before she snuck into the bushes beside the rails, carefully and as quiet as she could. She crawled forward, slowly approaching the blue engine. She almost cheered when she saw that it was in fact Belle. The fire engine still stood on her wheels, but was mashed into a pile of dirt, her face was halfway covered in earth and grass, but she was smiling goofily. Lily rolled her eyes, knowing too well why. The liquids seeping from underneath the engine just confirmed it. Belle had gotten what she wanted.

Without a word, she climbed into Belle's cab, quickly trying to figure out how to control the cannons. To her relief, there was a manual hanging on the wall.

She took a quick look outside, but Diesel 10 was still having his eyes fixed in the two men teasing him. His deep, eerie growl sent chills down her spine. Carefully she aimed the water cannons at him, adjusting them as good as she could. Then she turned the water on, full throttle!

The warship yelped and tried to jump sideways off the tracks as the water hit him hard. Lily adjusted the water jets to be aimed straight at his vents. She could no longer see the engine in the big splash, just hear him roar in frustration.

Then… sparks flew around them and with a loud bang, the warship's generator short circuited with a huge light arch emerging from the box.

"Yes!" Lily cheered and turned the water off, jumping out of Belle's cab.

"Great job, Lily!" Mr. Conductor and Patch shouted as she came over. Patch gave her an high five.

"That light arch must have done some damage, so he'll need some repairs, but at least we've captured him!" Lily was so happy and relieved that it was all over, she felt dizzy and as if she was about to faint.

"Ok, let's shunt him to the dieselworks!" Mr. Conductor said gleefully, climbing into Salty again to move him behind the warship. "The hard part is done. We can breathe out now."

"I'm so glad it's over!" Lily smiled tired. She walked over to Diesel 10 and placed a hand on his cheek. The warship growled deeply, but he seemed to know he was defeated, the growl was more a statement that he didn't like it.

"You've caused so much trouble, Diesel 10. You've had a lot of fun, don't you? I bet you're tired too, so let's go home to the dieselworks and have some rest, huh?" she smiled to the diesel.

The warship snorted, looking away in defeat. Lily climbed into his cab, signaling to her companions inside Salty that they were ready to go. Salty honked and then they were on their way.

Sir Topham Hatt met them as they drove through the gates, smiling. "You got him! Unbelievable!"

"Yeah, we got him… and no one was hurt!" Mr. Conductor smiled.

"Except Diesel 10's pride." Lily chuckled. "And his generator… it will need some repairs."

"Splatter and Dodge was brought here just a little while ago, I've locked them up and siphoned their fuel until we have fixed and reinforced the shed doors. I don't want to risk the diesels escaping again. BoCo is also locked up, and Bert is still on the lift. I'm not letting him down until the shed is ready." Sir Topham informed.

Lily swallowed hard as she realized there was one engine he left out. "And Arry…?"

The chubby man bit his lip, not sure what to say, but Lily had already jumped out of Diesel 10's cab, running towards the workshop with tears running down her face.

"No!"

"Wait, Lily!" Mr. Conductor shouted, but she stormed inside not listening to anyone.

Her heart was beating painfully hard as she stopped inside the gates, looking around. Bert looked down at her from the lift, but she couldn't see his brother anywhere. The flatbed was gone. Only some oil and blood was left on the concrete floor where the flatbed once stood.

"He's gone…" she choked out, sitting down on the floor, letting her tears run free.

She barely noticed Patch and Mr. Conductor putting their arms around her, comforting her as good as they could.

"He's gone…"

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To be continued!


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: I do not own any of the characters, they all belong to HIT.

In this story, the trains are a bit more animal-like in their behavior. I also imagine them as a little more flexible and softer than real life machines. Sort of bio-mechanic.

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Chapter 9

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Sir Topham Hatt came into the workshop too, panting as he had been walking really fast. He wept his face with a handkerchief.

"Lily… you misunderstood me." He panted.

Lily looked up with tearful eyes.

"Arry is in the back shed, he is being repaired. The mechanics said it would be a lot of work, but he can be saved."

He stumbled backwards as Lily flung her arms around his neck, hugging him. Then he returned the hug with a tired smile.

"I need to see him!" Lily let go of him and ran out of the workshop. Her feet were barely touching the ground as she ran to the back shed.

The mechanics looked up from their work, smiling as they recognized her, continuing their work while the young girl approached the badly wounded engine. The hazard-striped shunter was no longer on the flatbed, he was standing on the rails, while the workmen worked on him.

"My poor boy!" Lily said, reaching out a hand. The diesel perked up by the sound of her voice, opening his eyes. She smiled to him, stroking a hand over his stubble. "You're gonna be alright, buddy."

The iron-diesel blew hot air into her hair as she leaned her face against his chin. He was tall, so it was all she could reach, but it was enough. All she needed was to know he was alive.

Sir Topham Hatt came running into the shed, panting but smiling at the scene unfolding.

"Lily… I have a suggestion for you. I see that you've grown attached to this diesel. And you're old enough to take a job soon, so I am going to ask you if you'd like to become Arry's new driver?"

"Oh my God?! Really?" she lit up, looking from the Fat Controller to Arry, smiling to the hazard-striped shunter. She chuckled as he licked her cheek, like a big, friendly dog. "Oh, you!"

"Yes, I fired all the dieseldrivers that had lied to me… so I need to replace them, and since you're so fond of him, I thought you would be perfect for the job."

"I'd love to! Thank you, Topham!" she beamed, jumping up and down with glee. "You hear that, Arry? We're going to work together, you and I." she stroked a hand over his bufferbeam.

Patch came running in too. "Your grandpa is here… we're in trouble."

Lily went pale as she saw the sullen, old man cross the open space between the main shed and the back shed. He was sure not looking happy.

"What is this I hear?!" Burnett started already before he reached them. "Lady has mated with a diesel?!"

"Umm… yeah, she ran away and found a mate. We didn't know that not all male engines on Sodor was gelded." Lily bit her lip, holding on to Arry's bufferbeam for support.

"What?! That's why I sent her here! So she wouldn't get covered! I though all the males here were neutered!"

Sir Topham coughed. "I kept ONE stallion, but he used to be locked up during mating season… but it turns out that a few of my drivers lied to me about having their engines neutered, so last night they all ran all across the island until we managed to capture them. There will be a lot of offspring this year…"

Burnett opened his mouth to shout at Topham, but closed it, gritting his teeth.

"Who covered Lady?! I don't want the offspring anyway, but I demand to know who covered her!" he finally shouted. "I want that engine scrapped!"

Lily swallowed hard, meeting Topham and Patch's stares. Patch looked down, but Topham cleared his throat.

"We don't know… we just found here after it was over." The chubby man said, not looking at Arry at all. Nor did he look at Diesel 10 who was standing outside glaring at everyone who dared to come near him.

Burnett cursed. "How many ungelded diesels do you have?!"

"It turns out to be 7…" Topham muttered.

"Their names!"

"BoCo, Den, Splatter, Dodge, Arry, Bert… and Diesel 10."

"Diesel 10?!" Burnett spat. "It better not be him! Of all those I hope it's BoCo… or Den. Then I might be able to sell the offspring, but if it's any of that devil's spawn…"

"Don't you dare talk about my engines like that!" Topham got angered on the behalf of his diesels. "They are fine engines! YOU were the one who sent Lady to Sodor, so if anyone is to blame…"

"Shut up!" Lily yelled.

The two older men looked at her. She looked stern where she stood, leaning on the big hazard-striped shunter, obviously not afraid of the feared diesel. Burnett looked at her in awe, realizing that his little granddaughter had grown up to be a fearless and strong woman. Not even he dared to go that close to the ill-tempered diesels, but she seemed to have everything under control. The huge machine even acted friendly towards her, nudging her with his nose.

"Let's not place blame on anyone! What has happened, has happened. Regrets have never made anything undone. So let's deal with the situation as it is!"

"You're right." Burnett raked a hand through his hair. "I still need to find a solution for Lady's condition. As there is no doctor or vet who knows how to deal with this, I can't have the fetus removed… I need to get rid of it…"

"You're not killing an innocent baby engine!" Lily gasped. "There has got to be another way!"

"I need to think." Burnett marched off, leaving a puzzled crowd behind.

Lily shrugged, turning her attention back to her engine. She was so proud of being his new driver, it felt like she was going to burst. She hugged him again, being rewarded with a warm snort into her hair.

"We'll become good friends, Arry. I'm sure of it." She said, letting him lick her hand. The horses at home also did that, they probably liked the salty taste of her skin. "And you're going to be my object of study too. I'm going to be the world's first engine vet. That way I can take better care of you and all your friends."

She was going to find a notebook and start writing everything down when she got back to the cabin. But first… she needed a good night's sleep.

.

Burnett was still in a foul mood the next morning, so Lily left to go to the dieselworks as soon as she had finished her breakfast. This time, she brought her notebook, so she could start noting down her observations on diesels health and anatomy. Mavis had been brought in for repairs before she left last night, so she had planned to grab the opportunity of studying a female engine, since there wasn't many of them.

But first of all, she wanted to say hi to Arry. She still had to pinch her arm, thinking she had only been dreaming and made up that she had become his driver.

The hazard-striped shunter perked up when he saw her entering the shed, hooting his air-horn to greet her. Lily chuckled and covered her ears.

"Thanks… I'm glad to see you too, big guy!" she snickered as she walked up to him to give him a hug. Then she noticed that a black diesel shunter was in there with them. It was still asleep, but she recognized him as Diesel. Or the "dog named Dog" as she secretly called him, edging that his name was very bland. She frowned, studying the sleeping engine. There was something strangely familiar with him, but she just couldn't point out what it was.

"Hmm…" she muttered, turning her attention back to her own engine.

Arry pushed her over playfully, she sat up and smiled at him. "Be careful, big boy! I am more fragile than you! Please don't pounce me like a dog…"

She got back on her feet, climbing on to his bufferbeam, sitting down and looking at the dieselworks awakening. "I still can't believe I'm your driver now. We're going to be a great team, don't you think?"

The shunter just snorted in response, following one of the female engine with his stare. He twitched, as if he tried to leap forward.

"Ha ha, no more mating for you, buddy! I think you had enough yesterday. They've siphoned your fuel anyway, so you couldn't get anywhere even if I let you." Lily chuckled as she jumped down.

"I have to go, Arry. I have studies to do, and they will still work on you, but we'll meet up later."

She gave him a hug and walked over to the mainshed where Bert had been placed inside Diesel 10's shed while the others was undergoing repairs. They hadn't siphoned his fuel, so he was raising hell behind the metal bars as he could smell Mavis on the lift outside. Lily looked inside, it was dark, so he was hard to see. Only the white lettering on his sides was visible, and a gleam from his eyes, like cateyes.

"Calm down, Bert. You'll only tire yourself out." She said, putting a hand in between the bars to touch him. She wasn't scared of him anymore, knowing that the engines could be tamed.

She felt his warm breath against her skin as he was checking her out, she smiled. He wasn't acting up, so she didn't have to fear losing her hand. When she felt his tongue licking her hand, she couldn't help but giggle.

"See? I won't hurt you." She chatted, placing her palm against his cheek. The move made the hazard-striped diesel jerk backwards and eye her suspiciously.

"Ok… a little too early for that. But we'll get there. Your brother likes it, so I am sure you will too, when you realize that not all humans are evil bastards with tazers…"

The ironworks diesel just glared at her through the bars, keeping a safe distance from her hands.

Lily moved away, now focusing on the female engine on the hoist.

"Hello, Mavis." She greeted, lowering the hoist enough to touch her.

The black quarry diesel was a lot calmer and more docile than her male counterparts. She didn't mind Lily's touch at all, so Lily could study her in peace, noting down everything of interest.

"Good girl." Lily praised, blushing a bit as she inspected the female diesel's genitalia. She did a rough sketch in her notebook.

The mechanics came to work on Mavis, so Lily got out of their way. The damages seemed to be only scratches and dents from her encounter with Diesel 10 last night, so she would be back on the rails in no time.

Lily walked over to Diesel 10's shed again, putting her hands in for the iron-diesel to sniff. She smiled as his lips searched her palms, like the horses did back home when they expected a treat.

"I don't have anything for you, my friend." She chuckled. "I don't know what you guys can eat and not… but I now know that you do have a digestive system, though your life doesn't depend on food. You don't need it to survive."

She had found out by checking Mavis, but she figured that they didn't need the food to live as none of the diesels had been fed anything before, only been filled up with fuel.

"I can only guess that sugar is a bad idea…" she chatted along, picking out a piece of bread from her lunchbox, reaching it out to him. The ironworks diesel sniffed it for a long time, and for a moment she thought he wouldn't take it, but then suddenly his lips scooped it up and she could hear him chewing.

He moved closer to the bars, snorting, like he was begging for more. Lily chuckled.

"I can't give you my whole lunch! Besides if I give you more… it will have to come out sooner or later, and I'm not so sure Topham has a plan for that kind of waste…"

Burnett came walking in, looking up at her.

"I think I have a solution for Lady's condition…" he shouted.

Lily swallowed hard, giving Bert another piece of bread before going down to her grandpa.

"Ok… tell me…"

.

.

To be continued!


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: I do not own any of the characters, they all belong to HIT.

In this story, the trains are a bit more animal-like in their behavior. I also imagine them as a little more flexible and softer than real life machines. Sort of bio-mechanic.

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Chapter 10

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Lady grabbed the metal bars of Diesel 10's shed, to prevent herself from falling. She was fearing what her grandpa had come up with. She knew he wouldn't do any harm to Lady, but she wasn't too sure about her offspring. Burnett seemed to hate it even before it was born.

"I will use gold dust to time travel, taking Lady with me. Then she can give birth and we'll leave the offspring behind in that time." Burnett began.

"You are going to leave a defenseless little baby engine alone in the past? Without it's mother or anyone to care for it? It's the same as murder, grandpa!" Lily shouted, so loud that Bert moved all the way to the back of the shed growling in dismay, but this time Lily didn't take any notice of him or tried to calm him.

Burnett looked down, he hadn't thought of it that way.

"Hmm… I'll find a solution." He mumbled. "It's a long time until she's going to give birth anyway."

"When you go… me or Patch are coming with you! Just to make sure you don't do the baby any harm!" Lily demanded sternly.

"Fine, fine…" Burnett waved her off, walking out of the shed.

She glared after him. She wasn't sure if she liked how he had become after grandma died. He was so bitter and strange… not like his old self at all.

Bert yelped as she opened the shed door half way, crawling under the metal bars to get to him. He tried to back further, but the wall stopped him.

Lily held up both her hands. "Easy, I don't have any tazer or anything. I just want to get to know you. I've become a good friend of your brother, so… we're almost family, you know."

She jumped backwards as he tried to bite her.

"Bad boy!" she scolded. "If you bite me, I'll bite you back, I tell you!"

She tried to approach him again, holding her hand out. The diesel stared at her, breathing shallow and short, like he was afraid, he trembled.

Carefully, she placed her hand on his bufferbeam, stroking him carefully.

"See? I don't mean any harm." She whispered.

Encouraged by his lack of reaction to her touch, she moved her hand to his face. By the blink of an eye, the hazard-striped shunter had sunk his teeth into her arm. The stinging pain made tears fill up her eyes. But most of all she got angered. Without giving it another thought, she leaped forward and bit him back, not caring where she hit him. Then she moved away, out of the rails in case he would try to run her over.

For a long time, they stood there, human and engine, staring at each other in a silent war over dominance. Lily with a red, inflamed bite-mark on her arm, Bert with a smaller, likewise red bite-mark on his chin.

Lily could see shock, surprise and admiration in his eyes, though he was scowling at her.

To her surprise, the diesel was the one to break away first, laying down on the tracks as a sign of submission. She walked over and stroked him carefully, giving him a quick hug.

"I told you I would bite." She whispered. The engine was still shivering, but his breath was calmer now. It seemed like he understood she meant no harm.

"We'll become friends, Bert. Just like me and your brother. Nobody will hurt you anymore." She assured him, taking out her last piece of bread, letting him have it. "I know I said I wouldn't give you more, but… take it as a reward for letting me pet you."

The big shunter eyed it suspiciously before accepting it and chewing thoroughly. When he had eaten it, he nudged her, begging for more.

"Sorry, buddy. It was the last one." She chuckled. "You'll have to ask your new driver for treats in the future. I think Topham mentioned there would be some new employees arriving tomorrow. He didn't waste any time hiring new drivers."

The hazard-striped diesel had stopped listening as soon as he understood that she wasn't giving him any more treats. He had moved forward again, eyeing Mavis with huge interest. Lily looked at the gap between the floor and the metal bars. She should get outside and close it again before Bert started acting up again, or he would break it.

Carefully, she slipped through the gap, closing the shed. The ironworks diesel whimpered disappointed but kept calm.

Lily smiled, clenching her notebook. "I am pretty sure you guys can be tamed. Sure, you both have earned your hazard-stripes, but I think you are good guys, just misunderstood."

She looked around to see if Burnett was anywhere to be seen, but the yard was empty. Lady was parked on a siding, she perked up when she spotted Lily and peeped. Lily smiled, walking up to her, stroking a hand over her face.

"Sorry I haven't spent much time with you lately, girl. I hope you're not jealous about the diesels. You're still my little sweetie, you know." She whispered, climbing on to her bufferbeam, sitting down to look at the dieselworks with the little steamie. "Topham hired me as a driver, Lady. Can you believe that? I have gotten my own engine to drive, care for and tame. He's a bit of a wild one, but he is good deep down, I just know it. Oh… you've already met him."

Lily chuckled a bit, the memory of what happened to Lady in the forest wasn't painful anymore. It couldn't be undone anyway, so they just had to make the best out of it.

"For all we know, it could be his offspring you're carrying." She mumbled.

Lady weeshed and nudged her with her nose.

"Do you know who is, perhaps?" Lily rubbed her nose against Lady's. "Too bad you can't tell us… we'll just have to wait and see is the baby looks like Diesel 10 or Arry… I do wonder what it will look like… will it be a steamie or a diesel? Or some weird hybrid?"

Lady snorted and shook her body, like a horse trying to shake off some annoying flies from its back. Patch came walking out of one of the sheds, not looking too happy. He scowled at her. Lily jumped down and ran over.

"Why the long face?" she asked.

"Nothing… it's just that… you excel at everything. My dream has always been to work at the railway, but you just beat me to everything…" Patch mumbled, scraping his foot on the ground. "You didn't even have to ask… Topham just hired you even though you have no education or experience."

"You're jealous." Lily stated, sighing. "Look… a lot of diesel drivers were fired. Why don't you apply for one of their jobs?"

"Topham would already have asked me, wouldn't he?" Patch bit his lip.

"Come on… give it a try!"

"You really think I'd have a chance?" he glanced at her.

"You'll never know if you don't try…" Lily smiled comforting to him.

"Ok… I'll apply for one." Patch said, but didn't sound too optimistic.

"Good luck, Patch!" Lily patted him on his shoulder. "Which engine do you hope you'll get?"

"Hmm… I don't mind any of them really, but I hope for Splatter. I feel some sort of bond to him… or Bert, maybe… since you're his brother's driver."

Lily couldn't help a chuckle. "Splatter?! Why? Because you're both sexually inexperienced?"

Patch tried to noogie her, but she got away. He chuckled. "I'll get you for that insult! Just you wait!"

Lily caught her breath and turned serious again. "Grandpa is going to use Lady's gold dust to timetravel and then leave the baby behind in the past, Patch. I am sure he won't let me come with him to make sure he doesn't harm the poor little thing… so, please… will you travel with him and make sure the baby is safe?"

Patch glanced over to Lady and nodded. "Of course, Lily."

"Thanks, Patch."

They stared at each other for a second or two, then Lily bid farewell and walked to Den's shed. Topham had asked her earlier to take a look at a wound he had gotten after a little fight with another engine. The Sentinel had gotten a small sip of fuel and then tried to run off, but ran into Dodge. The two had started a fight over domination until the staff had been able to separate them. They had noticed that Den was bleeding from his undercarriage and looked underneat him. He had gotten a rather big laceration in his skin. Dodge on the other hand had gotten away from the fight with a minor dent in his cab.

"Hello, Den." Lily reached out a hand, letting the big diesel draw in her scent. He just looked down at her with big, friendly eyes. He wasn't as ill-tempered as the iron-twins. Lily smiled.

"I'm just going to tend to your wound, big guy. Stand still, ok? Or else you might crush me." She chatted along, stroking a hand along his side as she walked towards his back.

To her big surprise, the huge diesel laid down and rolled over to his side, giving her full access to his underside.

"Good boy! You know I am here to help, don't you?" she praised, spotting the wound. It was long, fresh and still bleeding. The edges were a bit inflamed, but not too bad.

"Ok, I'll just have to rinse this and do a few stitches. It might hurt a bit, but you can handle it, right?" Lily said, opening a box that the staff had collected some stuff in. She had advised them to what she wanted to be put into it, and hoped they had gotten everything.

She picked out a bottle of chlorhexidine and poured it over the wound, making Den twitch a bit.

"Ok… so it's that sore, huh? I think I should… give you a bit of this…" she picked out a sterile syringe, filling it up with lidocaine. "This will sting a bit, but after that you won't feel a thing, I promise."

She carefully stung the needle into his skin, emptying the syringe, then rubbing the skin a bit. Then she started to get ready to make a few stitches while the lidocaine started working. Den peeked up, trying to lick his wound as the numbness started spreading.

"Lay down, boy. I'll be quick."

The diesel snorted and laid down again, letting her do her job. With nimble hands she did a row of nice, even stitches, shuddering a bit by the sound of the needle tearing through the flesh. It was quickly done, and soon she could rinse and put on a bandage to prevent dirt from getting into it.

"There! You were such a good boy, Den! Now you can stand up." She smiled and got out of his way as he flailed his wheels to get back up.

"Be careful for a few days now, or you'll ruin it. You don't want me to come embroidering you again, do you?" Lily gave him a piece of bread as a reward. The Sentinel nipped it out of her hand and chewed happily.

A sudden applause from the shed door made her jump. Sir Topham Hatt smiled at her.

"Bravo! You sure have a good hand with engines, Lily!" he praised.

Lily blushed by the compliment, it felt good. Especially since this was new to her too.

"Thank you." She mumbled as she started gathering her stuff again and instructed Den's driver on how to change the bandage and rinse the wound until it was healed.

Sir Topham waited for her outside.

"I've been thinking… since you're both taming the diesels, being an engine vet and a driver. It might be a little too much for you, so I was thinking of hiring someone to be your apprentice. We could need more vets in case more engines get ill or hurt at the same time, don't you think?"

"That sounds like a wonderful idea, Topham." Lily agreed, feeling relieved. She had been fearing that she might not be able to spend as much time with each engine as needed to. Not to mention Arry, which she now was fully responsible for. It would have felt awful having to neglect him.

"And I've also hired Patch as Splatter's driver." Sir Topham blinked at her. "He really wanted to be a driver too, and those two already seem to have bonded. Like you and Arry. This railway will be better from now on, now that no engine has to be tazed, and they have drivers that actually cares about them. I am really thankful for everything you've done so far, Lily. I would never have gotten to know about the ungelded diesels if it weren't for you."

"I… didn't do it all alone…" Lily protested, not wanting to take the full credit. "Patch and Mr. Conductor also helped a lot."

"I know, and I promise you all will be rewarded." The chubby man stated. Then he gave her a set of keys. "I think the vet should have her own office, don't you think?"

Lily took it with awe. "Wow, this will be handy!"

"This is new to us all, so just let me know if you need anything. The welfare of my engines have high priority to me." The chubby man tipped his hat and walked off.

Lily put the key in her pocket, smiling. This was going to be an exciting task! Being the world's first engine vet. It would be a challenge, but interesting.

It was getting late, so she snuck over to Arry's shed, like she often did before she went home to bed. The diesel greeted her with a hiss from his hydraulics, making her smile. At least he had stopped tooting his horn to greet her now. He used to wake up all the other engines.

"How is my big boy today?" she whispered, stroking his side. Then she searched her pocket for a slice of bread. "I brought you a treat."

To her surprise, the hazardstriped diesel just snorted and pushed her hand away.

"You don't want it? Well, that's new…" Lily felt a sting of worry, but forced it away. Maybe he just didn't want it. She didn't want to think the worst… that he could be ill or something. Carefully, she climbed on to his buffer beam, leaning her face against his.

"Topham has given me my own office. Isn't that nice?" she whispered, staring out of the open shed doors. She felt the diesel's warm breath against her shoulder. She closed her eyes and smiled. These moments were the best part of the day, so peaceful and nice. She hoped the other diesel's drivers also took their time to bond with their engines like this. She knew Patch did, though Splatter still didn't seem to trust him enough to allow him to sit on his buffer beam.

"I would never have guessed that this was the path I was going to walk in my life, Arry." Lily said, sighing. "I always thought I would become a nurse or something ordinary…"

A low whimper escaped the iron-diesel, but as soon as she looked at him, he was back too normal.

"Is anything wrong, big guy?" she said, worried. She jumped down and took a look, but couldn't see anything out of the ordinary.

Arry pushed her gently with his buffer, like he was trying to tell her not to be worried. She chuckled and gave him another hug.

"Maybe I worry too much. I should go to bed now. See you tomorrow, big boy!" she nudged his buffer and shut the shed doors. She smiled as she saw Patch sneak into Splatter's shed, probably to say good night to his engine.

The moonlight lit up her way as she walked to the cabin she still shared with Mr. Controller and Patch. She was trying to find a place to move to, but still hadn't found something she liked or could afford.

Tired, she crawled into her bed and pulled the blanket over herself, sighing in delight.

She had no idea how long she had been sleeping when the blanket was suddenly ripped off her.

"What the hell? Patch?!" she sat up, glaring at the blonde boy. He stared back with a panicked look on his face.

"You have to come, Lily!" he cried. "Something is very wrong…"

Lily jumped up.

"Arry!" she gasped. The realization hit her like a bucket of ice. She already knew it had to be him.

.

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To be continued!


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: I do not own any of the characters, they all belong to HIT.

In this story, the trains are a bit more animal-like in their behavior. I also imagine them as a little more flexible and softer than real life machines. Sort of bio-mechanic.

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Chapter 11

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Lily's heart pounded painfully hard as she pedaled after Patch towards the dieselworks. She could see several drivers and workers running around the sheds. It had to be bad.

"Patch… how bad is it? Arry… is he dying? He was acting rather strange last night… but I didn't want to think the worst." She whimpered as they jumped on the bicycles.

"Hm? Arry? Arry is the only one who is still somewhat up and running…" Patch muttered as he lead the way towards the engine sheds. "It's everyone else who is seemingly dying…"

"Oh my…" Lily gasped as the doors to the sheds opened, revealing that every engine inside had keeled over, flailing their wheels and whimpering in pain. "Oh God…"

Lily walked over to Splatter, who was the one who seemed to be most calm of them all, even though he was constantly whimpering and howling. His face was pale and sweaty, his eyes was wide and panicked.

"Shh… easy, boy." She whispered. A strange smell caught her attention, but she wasn't able to tell where it came from, it lingered in the whole shed.

"How did they all become sick at the same time?" she said to herself as she walked from one diesel to another. They were all in terrible condition.

"How is the ones in the mainshed?" she asked a mechanic.

"Diesel 10 and Bert is just as miserable as these ones, but your Arry seems to be in less pain than his fellow diesels." The mechanic replied and ran off to find some tools.

Lily scratched her head, trying to figure out how to handle this situation. Why wasn't Arry as sick as the others? This was a mystery, and she had no idea where to start.

"Has there been anything out of the ordinary here today?" she asked the same mechanic as he returned with a toolbox.

"No, not really. We had a school class on visit, but that's not unusual on Sodor. Everyone likes the engines, the only difference is that not many classes have visited the dieselworks before due to the mean temper on some of the diesels…" the mechanic looked thoughtful as he tried to remember.

"Hmm… not much to work from. I'm just trying to find out what caused this…" Lily rubbed her chin.

"Afraid I can't help you there, miss. Sorry." The mechanic put his toolbox down beside Dart. The tiny shunter was lying on his side, tossing himself around as if he was in great pain.

The symptoms reminded her of when the horses back home had colic or digestive problems. She snapped her fingers. Most of the drivers had given their engines treats, which was probably the reason every diesel was sick. But still there was something odd about it… Arry had probably gotten more treats than all of them together, and he was the one who was least sick. She had to admit she had been spoiling him a bit while training him. The other drivers usually just gave their engine a treat at the end of the day.

"What the hell is this?!" she mumbled, walking over to the main shed.

She looked at the clawed warship, his claw had been tied down as he had been flailing it around when the pain was at its worst. She placed a hand on his buffer.

"I wish I knew how to help you guys… but I seriously have no idea what this is. Sorry, Diesel 10."

She stroked a hand over his face, he was pale and cold, but sweating like he was hot.

"I promise I will do all I can to figure this out."

She took a quick look at Bert, finding him in the same condition as everyone else. Only Arry greeted her as usual, he was also pale and looked at her with a pained scowl, but at least he was still standing and looking somewhat conscious.

"What am I going to do, Arry?" Lily sighed, sitting on his bufferbeam to think. "I have no leads at all!"

A deep rumble from inside the diesel caught her attention, as a pained yelp escaped him. She jumped down, opening his fuel tank, sniffing it. It smelled diesel, nothing else.

"Ok… so nobody has put sugar in your tanks…" Lily mumbled. At least there was one thing she could cross off the list.

"Lily!" Patch shouted from the entrance. "One of the diesels has vomited. You might want to examine it?"

"Oh joy…" Lily sighed and hugged Arry. "I have to get used to digging through puke and poo, I guess…"

She hurried after Patch, stopping in front of Paxton. A pool of puke had formed under the diesel's front. It smelled horrible, pieces of half digest bread and vegetables could be seen. Lily took a deep breath, trying hard not to throw up herself as she put on gloves and started digging through it. There was this strange smell again.

Patch stroked Paxton's face. The deep green diesel was breathing slow and calm now, no longer fighting against the pain. He was calmer and was resting with his eyes closed.

"He seems to feel better now…" Patch said, studying the green shunter.

"I am starting to suspect some kind of food poisoning, but that means that all of the diesels must have eaten the same thing… and that Arry must have eaten less of it than the others." Lily muttered, searching through the contents of Paxton's stomach. She stood up after a while, not sure, but she held up a piece she hadn't been able to identify.

She quickly compared Paxton's condition to the other diesels. He seemed to feel better, he had stopped sweating and whimpering. He was resting and breathing calm.

"Make them all throw up!" she ordered. It probably wouldn't help her find a diagnose, but if it could make the diesels feel better that was what mattered the most.

"How?!" a driver she hadn't met before said. He was probably one of the new guys. He was wiping Dodge's face with a wet cloth.

"How would you make yourself throw up? I don't care how you solve it, just make your engine vomit!" Lily said.

Patch swallowed hard, not looking forward to this, but he put on a rubber glove, forcing Splatter's mouth open and put his arm as far into the diesel's throat as he could. The result was immediate, the diesel twitched violently and sprayed Patch with the contents of his stomach.

"Gross!" Patch whimpered, trying hard to keep himself from barfing. He ran over to a water station, washing off the worst. Other drivers and mechanics followed shortly after.

"Sorry, Arry…" Lily said, shoving her arm into his throat.

She closed her eyes against the disgusting shower, wiping the worst of her face. The iron-diesel looked at her with suspicion in his eyes, like he wondered why she would suddenly do things like this to him.

"It will make you feel better." She said, walking over to Diesel 10 to repeat the procedure.

Not long after, every diesel at the works had emptied their stomachs, and every employee was in need of a shower.

Lily took the time to study the contents in the puke before she went to clean herself. She had to wait her turn anyway, since everyone was standing in line outside the only shower at the dieselworks.

Sir Topham Hatt arrived in his car, jumping out. He looked worried.

"I came as fast as I could!" he looked around. The whole place was a mess and the stench was almost unbearable. "What on earth has happened here?!"

Lily stood up, well aware how bad she looked. "The situation is under control, sir. We still don't know what made them sick, but at least they are better now. I have to do some research before I know what has happened."

She picked up samples of the vomit from every diesel, putting it in a bag, labelling it with their names. Sir Topham was about to pat her shoulder, but retreated as he remembered what she was covered in.

"You're doing a really important job, Lily. If you need anything, just let me know. The welfare of my engines comes before everything else, so money is not an issue. I really want you to learn as much as possible, and then train more people. It is about time we get a doctor specializing in engines on Sodor… or the world for that matter. It is a mystery why nobody has done it before, considering that the engines are bio-mechanic."

"Thanks, Topham." Lily muttered, putting the small bags in her backpack so she could take it back to her office. When she was about to put the last one in, she stopped and frowned. There was something different about this one, something that made it stand out from the others. She flipped it and read the name. Arry.

"Hm…" she muttered, putting it in with the others. Then walking over to the wardrobes to take a much needed shower. She would have to put on a dirty overall afterwards, but at least it was better than walking around like a living cesspool.

She took a quick check on all the diesels after the shower, they all seemed much calmer now, being in less pain. Their drivers were taking good care of them, it pleased her to see how they carefully stroked wet towels over their engine's face, talking calm to them. They were in good hands now, the new drivers seemed to be very devoted to their jobs too, some of them were just sitting on the bufferbeam of their sleeping engines, leaning on them and humming a low tune.

Lily smiled. The diesels were finally being treated with the care and respect they needed. She would soon check in on the steamies too, to see if they were treated well too. Though she wouldn't be able to be a vet for all the engines on Sodor, she was still the only one who had some sort of knowledge about it. She had to train someone else to take care of the steamies, she had already made up her mind. She wanted to specialize on diesels.

"Come on, big boy. We're going to the washdown." She greeted Arry, climbing into his cab.

She kept pondering about what could have made the diesels sick while cleaning Arry. The big, hazardstriped shunter was purring in delight as she used a brush to rub the dirt off. It was clear that his previous driver hadn't washed him very often, as there was a thick layer of soot covering his whole chassis. His green and yellow paint was a lot lighter and more vibrant than she had expected.

"You like this, huh?" she chuckled as she hosed him down after soaping him in. "I promise you'll get a wash more often now. You do dirty work after all."

She was smiling as she took him back to the dieselworks, leaving him outside with his brother, so he could socialize with the other engines. She took Bert's driver aside, pointing out the difference between the two engines now that Arry was cleaned. He nodded, driving Bert to the washdown.

She took her backpack to her office, not looking forward to examining the smelly contents of the small bags. She put on an apron and gloves, finding a big plate to put the stuff on.

She carefully dug through and studied everything, finding one thing that separated Arry from the others, and two things that sparked her curiosity.

She picked up a lump, turning it around. It was a piece of meat. All the diesels had eaten it, but none of the drivers had informed her about feeding it to them. They had all written down what they had been giving to their diesels as treats over the past week, to help her find out what had made the engines sick. Could this, be it?

Then there were some strongly colored, round beads. She took a closer look, dipping it in water to clean it. Candy?

Arry hadn't eaten this, and he was less sick than the others. She scratched her head. She knew that motors running on fossil fuel could be ruined by pouring sugar in the fuel, but would it have the same effect on bio-mechanic beings like these engines? And she had been giving the steamies candy before, they had never gotten sick.

"Hm, this requires some more tests, but it seems like the diesels are all diabetic or allergic to sugar." She mumbled to herself.

Patch came in, sitting down. "There was a school class here this morning. I talked to the teacher and he said that when they visited the steamies, they used to bring treats, like they do when they visit animals at the zoo. Nobody has ever visited the diesels before, so they just assumed that they liked the same treats as the steamies…"

Lily looked up at him. This was interesting information. "What do they usually give the steamies as treats?"

"Fruits, bread, candy, various meat… everything." Patch shrugged. "Why?"

"Are there any dead steamies in the scrapyard now? I need to examine one… I would also need a diesel, but I don't know if there are any dead ones yet, they are younger than the steamies."

"I'll ask Sir Topham." Patch walked out, leaving Lily with her own thoughts.

She had come up with a theory, but needed to do some more research to be sure. And for that, she needed to compare the bio-organic material of both engine types. It was impossible to do on living engines.

Until she was sure, she would advise the drivers to only feed the diesels with vegetables and bread, nothing else.

"And now… I have to dissect my first engine to learn more." She mumbled, looking up at a poster of the Flying Scotsman. Cutting into an engine felt so wrong, even if it was dead.

"I just hope it won't be any engine I know well… like Edward or Henry…" she said, taking her eyes off the poster. She would need to get some sketches done, or better, get blueprints from a steam engine and a diesel, where she could sketch down their bio-organic anatomy. Like those map-like posters at a doctors office.

"Lily, we have dead engines." Patch peeked in. "It was hard to find a diesel, but Topham was able to get one from the nearest yard on the mainland. It died yesterday for unknown reasons. Also, there is a steam engine by the Ironworks you can examine. It is also pretty fresh, he said."

"Alright…" Lily said, rubbing her head. She wasn't sure if she should bring the corpses here or examine them on the spot, but right then, a train pulled in with both the engines loaded on to flatbeds. It was a morbid sight, but it would make her work easier if she could dissect them here where she could use the lift and Happy Hook.

"Oh… thanks… that was fast…" she said, a bit surprised. "Well, no need to wait, I should just get started. She asked the driver of the train to take the dead ones to the mainshed, where she could use the crane.

Patch followed her, curious to what this would be like. He was interested in this, Lily thought and bit her lip. Maybe he could be her apprentice? She had to think about that, but for now, she wanted him to assist her in the examination of the engines.

Bert, still locked into Diesel 10's shed, was standing with his front pressed against the steel bars as they entered, curious to what was going on. Lily threw a glance at him, the diesel seemed unaffected by the fact that the other engines were dead, but that was probably because he worked at the ironworks, smelting rusty old engines. Dead engines. Like a reaper… Lily shuddered.

Carefully, she and Patch lifted the dead diesel up, it was a black shunter, like Diesel, but with a different livery on its side. A quick look underneath it told her it was a male engine.

"There aren't many female engines in general…" she muttered as she opened her toolbox, picking out a scalpel.

"Maybe it is because the lifespan of an engine is so long, they shouldn't reproduce often? Nature often has its own ways of regulating its population of certain species." Patch suggested.

"That sounds plausible…" Lily took a deep breath as she pressed the scalpel into the flesh of diesel's undersite, causing a shower of blood to soak the concrete floor.

Bert hissed and whimpered terrified inside Diesel 10's shed, slamming into the back wall as he tried to back away from the scene in panic. The ironworks diesel yelped like a dog with his eyes staring wildly at the morbid sight by the lift.

Lily felt a pang of guilt. "Patch, can you close the doors to his shed? He shouldn't have to see this."

"I thought he was used to seeing dead engines…"

"Not being cut open like this…" Lily muttered and started examining the inside, she didn't want to pull the intestines out just yet, first she wanted to find out where it was all located among the mechanical parts of the engine, then she would sketch it down. After that, she could pull out the organs to examine them closer.

Patch came back after calming Bert down and closing the doors so the terrified diesel didn't have to watch them.

"This is really gross, Lily…" he stated as he watched her digging around inside the engine with her full arm length.

"Yeah… I hope I won't have to do this often." She said, shuddering. The inside of the engine was very complex, everything fitted together amazingly perfect. She was in awe over how well the mechanic and the bio-organic parts worked together. The feeling of digging through soft tissue and bowels, and suddenly hitting metal was strange and intriguing. "It is disgusting, but far more interesting than dissecting frogs at school…"

"Can I try?" Patch asked curiously.

"Sure. Put on a set of gloves from my toolbox. They cover your whole arm." Lily said, pulling her arms out of the engine. As Patch has put on gloves, she took his hand, leading it inside the engine.

"Feel that? That's it's heart." She said and put his hand on the big lumpy organ. "You can feel the biggest veins."

"Amazing…" Patch whispered in awe.

"And that…" Lily led his hand further. "…is the lungs… and this… the stomach… and…"

She kept guiding him through the organs, until her phone started ringing.

She pulled the gloves off to answer it. The number belonged to the stationmaster at Knapford.

"Hello?"

"Lily? Can you come to Knapford as soon as you can? There has been a crash. Henry and Emily have both derailed and they are bleeding… a lot."

"I'll be right there!" Lily hung up.

"We must continue later, Patch. We have to go to Knapford right now!"

Then she grabbed her toolbox and ran out of the workshop, Patch followed hot on track.

.

.

To be continued!


End file.
